Prabowo Criticizes Regional Governments for Poor Budget Execution

President Prabowo Subianto has highlighted concerns over the suboptimal management of regional government budgets, stating that funds transferred to local administrations are not always used effectively for public services and development. "It's strange that funds are sometimes not used by regional governments. We have evidence. They are put in banks, or there are conflicts between regents and their legislative councils, or between governors and legislative councils. So, the money has been transferred by us. It's not being used," Prabowo said, as quoted from a Bakom RI release on Wednesday (16/9). The president emphasized the central government's need to ensure that state budgets are used effectively and provide direct benefits to the public. He noted that this is a key consideration in the policy for managing transfers to regions (TKD). Prabowo cited instances where regional budgets remain deposited in banks or are unusable due to local-level issues. He believes this situation warrants attention, as the purpose of budget transfers to regions is to accelerate development and improve community welfare. While regional governments have the authority to manage budgets according to local needs and priorities, their utilization must be effective and accountable. Furthermore, Prabowo pointed out the insufficient development of basic infrastructure at the village level, which he deems disproportionate to the allocated budgets. "Decentralization has been in place for how long? 25 years. We have given funds to each village, one billion rupiah, over the last 10 years. Transfers to regions have been made. Why have village bridges never been built? Even though a bridge only costs Rp400 million," he stated.