Golkar Withdraws from TRAP Special Committee Citing Potential Legal Violations

The Chairman of the Golkar Party’s Regional Leadership Council (DPD) for Bali, Gde Sumarjaya Linggih, also known as Demer, has clarified the controversy surrounding Golkar and the Bali DPRD’s Special Committee on Spatial Planning, Assets and Permitting (Pansus TRAP), which culminated in the withdrawal of all Golkar cadres from the committee. According to him, continuing the Pansus TRAP would potentially violate the law. Demer stated that the Pansus TRAP’s term of duty had already concluded because it had reported its work results to a plenary session. In his view, once a report has been made to a plenary session, the task of a DPRD special committee is finished. This is stipulated in the Bali DPRD Decree Number 6 of 2026 concerning the Formation and Determination of the Membership Composition of the Pansus TRAP. “The report in the plenary session was considered merely a recommendation, so it was not a report. There is no such thing as a recommendation in a report. During my time in the DPR RI, it is common for a special committee to end once it has reported,” Demer said when contacted on Saturday (19/7/2026). Demer continued that the work report is not done on a case-by-case basis but is compiled comprehensively from the committee’s formation until the decree expires. If a report has been made to a plenary session but the decree has not yet expired, the special committee is also considered to have finished. He has never seen a special committee operate in this manner during his time in the DPR RI. “I have participated in special committees in the DPR RI for 22 years. There has never been a case where a report to a plenary session became a recommendation,” said the member of Commission VI of the DPR RI. “But if it is still operating now, I fear it could become a finding by the BPK, because it uses the APBD. If it uses the APBD budget without a legal basis, then it has the potential to become a BPK finding,” Demer revealed. Demer dismissed the notion that Golkar is unwilling to be involved in enforcing spatial planning violations in Bali. On the contrary, he wants to straighten out the regulations properly so that they do not become a problem in budget usage. He also suggested that the Pansus TRAP should enforce spatial planning violations at the upstream level. He observed that the Pansus TRAP has so far appeared selective in conducting its inspections. Demer said the formation of the Pansus TRAP originated from the flood disaster in Denpasar in August 2025, which claimed lives, and was later reinforced by flooding in Buleleng. “This committee has the manpower, the personnel, and time constraints, so what must be done is the priority, which is upstream,” he said. Nonetheless, he stressed that Golkar is still ready to be involved in spatial planning enforcement in Bali through a special committee, provided it complies with the applicable institutional rules.