Creative Economy Ministry Responds to Corruption Case Involving Village Profile Video by Amsal Sitepu

Director of Publishing and Photography at the Ministry of Creative Economy (Kemenekraf), Iman Santosa, has spoken out regarding the alleged corruption case involving budget inflation or markup by videographer Amsal Christy Sitepu, also known as Amsal Sitepu. He urged creative economy actors (ekraf) not to feel afraid or worried about taking on government projects.

Regarding the case, Iman stated that the government has learned much from it and is committed to making improvements. “With incidents like this, we learn a lot. Moving forward, we will make improvements,” he said during a press conference in Jakarta on Monday, 30 March 2026, as quoted from Antara.

To prevent a repeat of the Amsal case, Iman said Kemenekraf is currently drafting guidelines for standard costs in procuring creative sector services. In line with the development of the digital era, the government considers it necessary to have standard guidelines that cover all creative industry sectors.

These guidelines need to be prepared by involving various stakeholders such as associations and communities active in the creative industry. Once the guidelines are issued, Kemenekraf will focus on socialising the regulations to the public as well as among ministries and agencies.

In terms of coordination with associations, the government will also strengthen cost standards so that they are incorporated into government regulations. “This will serve as a reference for creative economy actors when determining prices or negotiating,” Iman explained.

Furthermore, Kemenekraf assures it will facilitate dialogue spaces for all creative economy actors through public services on the ppid.ekraf.go.id channel. This channel handles requests for information and complaints from creative economy actors to resolve issues in the creative ecosystem.

Previously, social media buzzed with discussions about the alleged corruption in the management and creation of local village communication and informatics networks or installations in Karo Regency, North Sumatra, for the 2020-2022 fiscal years.

The alleged corruption arose because the case was deemed to have caused state losses of Rp 202 million, precisely Rp 202,161,980. This loss was based on calculations of the costs for creating village profiles carried out by Amsal Sitepu for 20 villages. The calculations were performed by expert analysts and auditors from the Karo Regency Inspectorate. According to the Karo Regency Inspectorate, costs for concepts or ideas, clip-on microphones, cutting, editing, and dubbing should have been valued at Rp 0, meaning free.