Deputy Home Affairs Minister Scolds Pekalongan Regent Fadia Arafiq for Not Understanding Governance: Learn Quickly

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Bima Arya Sugiarto has taken aim at Pekalongan Regent Fadia Arafiq after she admitted she did not understand governance and law because of her background as a dangdut singer. Bima Arya stressed that she should learn quickly to grasp governance issues, rather than handing all matters over to the regional secretary (Sekda). “If your background is not governance politics, then learn quickly. You cannot entrust everything to the Sekda, because the Sekda carries out orders to coordinate policy as the senior bureaucrat,” the Bogor mayor told reporters on Thursday (5 March 2026). Therefore, in addition to mastering it, the regional head must also control and be fully responsible. “This is what should be understood when deciding to become a regional head,” he said. As a result, Fadia continued to drive procurement projects in the Pekalongan Regency government that led to her arrest by the KPK and named as a suspect. “In the intensive examination conducted, FAR explained that they had a background as a dangdut musician, not a bureaucrat and did not understand law and governance,” said KPK Deputy for Enforcement and Execution Asep Guntur Rahayu at a press conference at the Merah Putih Building, Jakarta, on Wednesday (4 March 2026).