Deputy Home Minister Urges Governors to Strengthen Coordination and Integrity
Deputy Home Minister Bima Arya Sugiarto has urged governors to strengthen coordination, uphold integrity, and deliver transformative leadership in their regions. He stated that this approach is crucial for overseeing national priority programmes and improving the quality of public services.
He made the remarks while opening the Working Meeting of Governors as Members of the Association of Indonesian Provincial Governments (APPSI) in West Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday (16/7). Representing Home Affairs Minister Muhammad Tito Karnavian, Bima explained that governors hold two strategic functions: as autonomous regional heads and as representatives of the central government in the regions. Governors must ensure close coordination with district and city governments to synchronise various national priority programmes.
He conveyed the Home Affairs Minister’s message for governors to routinely build coordination with regents, mayors, and regional apparatus organisations, whether through direct meetings or online platforms. “In Jakarta, the Minister is consistent. Every Monday, there is an inflation coordination meeting. He never misses it. Sometimes the Deputy Minister or Secretary General takes turns, along with other coordination meetings. So, amidst the current situation, the Minister entrusts you to remain focused on these coordination meetings,” he stated in a written statement on Thursday (16/7).
In addition to strengthening coordination, the Home Affairs Minister requested that governors directly lead the implementation of work programmes in their regions, particularly those related to budget efficiency. Regional leadership cannot be fully delegated to regional secretaries; it must be present down to the grassroots level of programme implementation.
Governors were also asked to continue setting an example in maintaining integrity, especially in efforts to prevent corruption within regional government environments. The Home Affairs Minister also paid attention to resolving inter-regional boundary issues, which remain a challenge in several areas. “The Minister asks you to also pay attention to boundary issues between districts, cities, and villages. We want to resolve these gradually with the help of the Regional Administration Directorate General. That is the Minister’s directive that I must convey,” Bima explained.
He also reminded governors that the fulfilment of Minimum Service Standards must not decline despite adjustments to Regional Transfers. He urged regional heads to avoid low performance and to continuously push for improvements in the quality of public services. According to him, regional heads today need to be transformative leaders capable of bringing about change through innovation and collaboration. This ability is considered very important in the current era of complex challenges.
Bima detailed five main challenges currently facing regional heads: global geopolitical dynamics, overseeing national priority programmes, fulfilling campaign promises, the development of social media algorithms, and the risk of legal issues that need to be anticipated. “We hope that in this forum, the Governor of East Kalimantan as the Chair can continue to inspire best practices that are transformative, to serve as examples for those who are underperforming,” he added.
Bima also reminded regional heads to focus on efforts to increase economic growth to support the success of various priority programmes. Quoting the thoughts of Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert E. Lucas Jr., he emphasised that development does not rely solely on physical investment or technology. Development also requires strengthening human resources through education, training, and innovation, making human resource development a priority for regional governments. “So let us learn together and strengthen how to build this ecosystem here,” Bima concluded.
The working meeting was also attended by the Governor of East Kalimantan and Chair of APPSI, Rudy Mas’ud, and the Governor of West Nusa Tenggara, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, along with other governors from various provinces or their representatives, as well as APPSI administrators and its board of experts.