The short needle pointed at 11 noon, when the Ngada Regent Marianus happily cut the ribbon while simultaneously removing the cloth covering the billboard measuring 4×6 m in the yard of Boba State Middle School. “Apart from being a thanksgiving, this is also a moment of reflection, the right time to look back on what has been done. For those who haven’t, it’s a critical note, to move forward,” he said while giving a speech in front of around 2,000 people, and representatives from DPRD, religious leaders, and traditional leaders on Saturday, September 14, 2013.

The billboard in question is information on the Ngada Regional Budget (APBD) for 2013. This is part of the APBD publication media that was inaugurated that morning. Not only that. There are a thousand posters and 5 hundred pocket books containing more or less the same information. This was the result of the encouragement of a civil society network called JASMIN facilitated by PATTIRO, and since last March it has been lobbying the district head and a number of other officials to initiate transparency in the area which is included in the Province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). This is also part of AIPD’s support for civil society advocacy to improve budget management.

The event, which was arranged like a folk party filled with singing and dancing, was also the 3 year anniversary of the leadership of Maurinus and his deputy Paulus Soliwoa. As if reminding residents, Marianus said the APBD pocket book was a means of reminding the public about what the government had not done. After its launch, the installation of media publications by the district government began on September 20 in various public service units such as village offices, health centers, schools, markets, and regional public hospitals. Meanwhile, the JASMIN network also helped distribute pocket books and posters 3 days later to the village community.

There are 2 important things to note from this event. First, the cost of printing publication media is borne by AIPD while the Ngada Regency Government is responsible for its implementation. In the following years, Pemkab plans to finance everything by themselves. This is starting to indicate sustainability and not always relying on AIPD’s support of local government and civil society networks. Second, this further confirms that the working area of NTT is more advanced in terms of APBD publication. Nearly 2 months earlier, the East Flores Regency Government had done the same thing, and also financed the printing of publications worth IDR 39 million.