The first phase of 2016 village funds of around IDR 28.2 trillion is ready to be disbursed by the government on March 16. President Joko Widodo ordered that all village funds be used only for infrastructure development purposes. Unfortunately, the president’s order received strong resistance from the village government. Based on PATTIRO’s findings in several villages in three provinces, namely Yogyakarta, Central Java and Riau, the villages that rejected were those who had high achievements.
PATTIRO village researcher Ahmad Rofik said that several outstanding villages in Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta hope that this year’s village funds will be prioritized not only for infrastructure but also community empowerment. “Even though they don’t fully agree with government policy, the village governments say they will just follow the rules that the government issues, but they hope that village funds can still be used to empower village communities. “They also hope that, even if village funds are used for infrastructure, the Village Fund Allocation (ADD) can still be used for empowerment,” explained Rofik.
Other high achieving villages in Kebumen Regency, Central Java also said they were not willing to use all village funds for infrastructure development. “They want village funds to be used for community empowerment as well,” said Rofik.
The research results also show that villages in Kebumen Regency, Central Java will not directly obey the president’s orders. “They said that they would only comply with district policy. Because so far the village has consistently implemented village planning right up to budgeting, namely for development and empowerment in accordance with the authority in the Village Law. “This practice has been outlined in district policy, and even started in 2004,” added Rofik.
Rofik added that several village governments in Siak Regency, Riau also rejected this policy because they had already made plans for the use of village funds, one of which was to develop Village-Owned Enterprises (BUMDes). Even though a policy of 100% village funding for infrastructure has been published, the governments of several villages will still try to include the budget draft in the infrastructure sector. “Only after that will the village government see, after being evaluated by the district government, whether the draft will be crossed out or not.
In line with the results of PATTIRO’s research, Chairman of the Indonesian Village Government Apparatus Association (APDESI) Wargiyati emphasized that he and all village officials who are members of the organization reject the policy of 100% village funds for infrastructure because it is considered to violate the mandate of the Village Law and Ministerial Regulations on Priorities for Using Village Funds 2016.
“In the Permendesa it is stated that village funds in 2016 will not be 100% prioritized for infrastructure but also for community empowerment. “From this alone, it can be seen that this policy violates the rules,” stressed Wargiyati.
Wargiyati added that the policy of using 100% village funds for infrastructure was also felt to be burdensome because villages also needed other needs to improve the standard of living of their people, such as education and health. He also said that this policy could be a boomerang for villages that are already developed.
“Not only that, if it is for villages that no longer need infrastructure but are still allocated for infrastructure, this will later become a BPK finding,” concluded Wargianti.
Furthermore, the Executive Director of the Indonesian Village Work Institute (LAKERDIN) Purwoko revealed that the policy of 100% village funds for infrastructure is against village planning. “This policy goes against village planning because the government was already planning even before the instructions were issued. “Village planning started in June 2015 while the statement only came out in December,” he explained.
Purwoko also said that although villages are hierarchically under the “authority” of the district government, the Village Law has given them the authority to carry out their own development planning. “Even though Law Number 25 of 2004 concerning the National Development Planning System places villages as subordinate to districts, Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages states that villages have complete authority in planning matters,” said Purwoko.
For this reason, to avoid inconsistencies in the implementation of the Village Law, changes are needed in the National Development Planning System Law because according to Purwoko the two laws are integrated with each other in the planning context.
Responding to this policy, Member of the Indonesian Ombudsman Alamsyah Saragih said that village governments can report to the Indonesian Ombudsman if they feel that the order of the president and Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Marwan Jafar regarding the use of 100% of village funds for infrastructure development limits village communities from getting public services. what they need.
Alamsyah emphasized that the government should give space to villages to exercise their authority. “Give freedom, if the village needs other funds outside of infrastructure, please do so. If other villages still need it, such as those outside Java, please use 100% of village funds for infrastructure. “We just return to the spirit of the Village Law which gives complete authority to villages,” stressed Alamsyah.
