Building Public Trust Ahead of the 2026 Economic Census

When census officers arrive, many business owners feel anxious. This concern is not solely because the questions are quite detailed, but because a larger question arises: what will the data I provide actually be used for? Will it be used for taxation purposes? Will information about my business, turnover, and economic conditions lead to greater obligations in the future? These questions and concerns are understandable, especially when the government appears not yet fully capable of addressing the various wild issues circulating on social media. Yet behind this doubt lies an equally important need for data obtained from the public. The state requires a complete picture of the community’s economic structure so that programmes designed truly answer existing needs. Without reliable data, public policy risks being based on assumptions rather than reality, becoming generic and ignoring the specificities of each region. The implementation of the 2026 Economic Census has indeed faced some resistance from the public. Confusion regarding the scope of questions, the level of detail of data requested, and data security issues have made some respondents antipathetic. Privacy issues have also coloured various discussions developing in society. In a digital era marked by various data leaks and rampant cybercrime, public caution is certainly understandable. The emergence of resistance from some members of the public is actually rooted more in issues of trust than in the census implementation itself. When the public does not fully understand the purpose of the census, the space for prejudice and speculation grows larger. With a budget allocation reaching more than one trillion rupiah and involving thousands of officers across Indonesia, it seems illogical for the census to be reduced merely to the interests of tax collection. Moreover, the development of digital transactions and the integration of tax administration systems have provided many data sources for tax authorities without having to rely on a census. The profile of public economic transactions today has been largely recorded through various available digital instruments. Therefore, it is highly excessive to make taxation issues the main objective of this census. Besides being expensive, the data collection process still requires the involvement of a large number of human resources. The Economic Census is more appropriately positioned as a tool to help understand the government’s expenditure side. In carrying out its obligations, the government needs to manage its resources to provide greater benefits to the public. Census data becomes an important instrument to ensure that state spending truly answers existing needs. To produce the right programmes, the government needs to understand the economic structure of society and its changing trends. The government requires information on who is running a business, the condition of their business, which sectors are growing, which regions are lagging, and which community groups require greater attention. From these questions, policies taken can be tailored to the conditions of each region, given the government’s limited resources. The accuracy of programmes with the expected targets will ultimately minimise the waste of allocated budgets. This thinking aligns with Amartya Sen’s ideas in Development as Freedom. Sen views development not merely as economic growth, but as a process to expand the freedoms people enjoy. For development to proceed justly, the government must understand the actual conditions of society. The state cannot help what it does not know. A strong state is not one that knows everything about its people, but one that has the ability to understand changes in the people’s conditions and adjust its policies appropriately. The census becomes one instrument that allows the state to obtain this picture more comprehensively. Without adequate data, public policy will be based more on estimates. This is often encountered in the field, namely a recurring mismatch between government programmes and the real conditions of society. There have often been complaints about misdirected government aid. Some people who should receive assistance are not recorded, while others whose economic conditions have improved remain on the recipient list. This situation is often not because the government does not want to help, but because the database used does not yet fully reflect the latest conditions. Outdated data will ultimately produce outdated policies. Sporadic improvement efforts are clearly not a reliable solution because they resemble patchwork. This is where the importance of conducting a regular census lies. The dynamics of change in society need to be observed by the government so that policies taken are adaptive over time. The census activity not only counts the number of people or businesses but also updates the way we understand public welfare, including adopting new developments such as work patterns and professions currently emerging. The implementation of the census will also correct standards applied in the previous period. For example, if in the past motorcycle ownership might have been an indicator that a household…