39 Regions Unable to Pay PPPK Salaries, Home Affairs Minister Prepares TKD Top-Up Scheme

Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian stated that the central government is preparing a top-up scheme for the Regional Transfer Fund (TKD) for around 39 regions that are genuinely unable to pay the salaries of Government Employees with Work Agreements (PPPK). This was conveyed by Tito during a working meeting with Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) and several regional heads at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta on Monday (8/6). Tito initially explained that the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) had received many complaints from regions unable to pay PPPK salaries. However, the ministry did not simply accept this information and instead scrutinised the budget postures of these regions. “We then provided assistance. In our assistance, we also, pardon the expression, did not simply accept the information. We looked at and examined in detail their budget posture, and after reviewing it, it turned out many regions were actually able,” he said. He cited the example of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), which initially complained it could not pay PPPK, but after assistance from the ministry, funds were eventually reallocated. Tito requested that regional heads first scrutinise detailed budget items before giving up. “An example is Central Sulawesi. The Governor there has a grant budget of Rp120 billion. We saw in the system, in the budgeting system, this Rp120 billion could actually be reduced to pay for PPPK, the grants part of it. So inefficient items can be made more efficient. Please work on this first, do not give up yet, because if someone does give up, we will certainly scrutinise it,” he said. However, he acknowledged there were indeed regions with no remaining capacity. He cited Tojo Una-Una Regency, where the personnel expenditure portion reached 56.65 percent; Buol Regency at about 51 percent; Donggala Regency at 53.9 percent; and Sigi Regency reaching 60 percent. Tito stated that a solution must be found for regions truly unable to pay. “If I am not mistaken, we calculated 39, correct? 39 regions that we need to think about. Perhaps their locally-generated revenue is also under heavy pressure, so they may need to be topped up through the TKD,” he said.