2027 a Momentum for Indonesia to Transform into a Productive Nation, Says Lawmaker

Member of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Azis Subekti, believes 2027 must become a momentum for Indonesia to transform its national development orientation from a fiscally strong state into a more productive nation. In a statement delivered in Jakarta on Wednesday, Azis asserted that development success should not be measured solely by the amount of the State Budget (APBN) or Regional Budgets (APBD) that are spent, but by the ability to create productivity and economic added value. “What we must measure is not just how much of the APBN and APBD is spent, but what economic capacity is born from that spending. Whether the public becomes more productive, whether regions become more self-reliant, whether economic added value increases, and whether the nation’s competitiveness becomes stronger,” he stated. According to Azis, Indonesia has, for over two decades, successfully maintained economic stability, expanded infrastructure development, strengthened social protection, and delivered state services down to the village level. He assessed that Indonesia has built a foundation as a fiscal state through its ability to collect revenues, maintain public financial stability, distribute resources, and expand public services. However, he argued, a fiscal state is not necessarily a productive state. “A fiscal state is measured by its ability to collect and spend resources. A productive state is measured by its ability to transform those resources into continuously developing economic capacity,” he said. He stressed the importance of changing the paradigm for drafting the APBN and APBD from mere spending to development investments that provide long-term benefits. Furthermore, he highlighted several structural obstacles that still limit national productivity, including a bureaucratic culture oriented more towards administrative activity than development outcomes felt by the public. “A new road is valuable if it connects production centres to markets. Training is meaningful if it produces skills needed by the job market. Government assistance has an impact if it can make the beneficiaries more self-reliant,” he said. Azis also assessed that decentralisation has not fully resulted in regional economic independence. According to him, many regions still depend on budget transfers from the central government, even though the policy has been in place for over two decades. “The ultimate goal of regional government is not a perfect report. The ultimate goal is growing regional economies, created jobs, rising public incomes, and an increasingly stronger regional revenue base,” he said. Azis also emphasised the important role of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (Kementerian PANRB) in changing the orientation of the national bureaucracy towards enhancing productivity. “If what is measured is only the completeness of reports, the bureaucracy will become experts in reporting. But if what is measured is regional productivity, job creation, investment, quality of public services, and fiscal independence, then the energy of the bureaucracy will move in a more productive direction,” he stated. In the economic sector, Azis believes that downstream processing and industrialisation must continue to be strengthened so that natural resource wealth can generate greater added value for the national economy. “Downstream processing is not merely an industrial agenda. Downstream processing is the process of transforming natural wealth into economic strength. Industrialisation is not merely building factories, but creating productive jobs, innovation, and competitiveness,” he said. According to Azis, certainty in spatial planning and land rights is an important factor in supporting food security, investment, and industrialisation. Moreover, he reminded that Indonesia, as a maritime nation, has enormous potential in the fisheries, energy, trade, logistics, maritime industry, blue economy, and biodiversity sectors. “The sea should not be seen as a separator between regions. For an archipelagic nation, the sea is Indonesia’s greatest connector,” he said. Azis also assessed that corruption remains a serious obstacle to national productivity because it increases business costs, slows investment, lowers the quality of public services, and reduces development effectiveness. He stressed that the central government, ministries, agencies, state-owned enterprises (BUMN), and regional governments must move in the same direction of development. “The central government has a vision, ministries have programmes, agencies have targets, BUMN have agendas, and regions have priorities. But all must be connected to one grand objective, namely enhancing the productive capacity of the Indonesian nation,” he stated. According to him, development success must be measured by rising productivity, regional self-reliance, economic added value, community empowerment, and expanding life opportunities for the people. “If this awareness is alive in the drafting of the APBN and APBD, then 2027 will be remembered not for the size of the budget, but as the turning point when Indonesia began to transition from a fiscal state towards a productive state,” said Azis.