Home Affairs Minister Says Regional Awards Spur Performance Competition
Home Affairs Minister (Mendagri) Muhammad Tito Karnavian has explained that awarding high-performing regional governments (Pemda) is an effort to motivate regions to improve their performance. The awards also demonstrate that many regional heads are capable of achieving excellence in governance.
“We hope that through this event, fellow regional heads will be more enthusiastic and motivated. For those who have not been as fortunate, we hope they will compete to obtain fiscal incentive funds,” Tito said in a statement on Tuesday (23/6/2026).
He made the remarks after attending the Regional Government Achievement Awards for the Papua Region in 2026 at the Suni Abepura Hotel, Jayapura City, Papua, on Monday evening (22/6).
Tito explained that specifically for the Papua Region, the city category was removed and replaced with the provincial capital category. This policy was adopted because Tanah Papua only has two cities, namely Jayapura and Sorong. By using the provincial capital category, the competition is deemed more representative in producing the best region.
On that occasion, Tito also appreciated the leadership of Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) for supporting the event. He confirmed that similar activities will continue to be held across the six regions as part of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ efforts to boost regional government performance.
According to him, this step is an implementation of the “stick and carrot” approach, providing awards for high-performing regions while simultaneously encouraging others to continuously improve their performance.
Regarding the assessment mechanism, Tito stressed that the data used comes from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) and the Regional Government Information System (SIPD). Consequently, the assessment process is believed to be accountable and transparent.
“By taking that data, we can already see which regions can control inflation and maintain relative stability. Unemployment data is also available from BPS. Likewise with poverty, it is available from BPS, so we can see which regions have fluctuating rates. Meanwhile, creative financing is taken from SIPD,” he added.
Tito also noted that for this year’s awards, the Ministry of Home Affairs collaborated with Tribunnews.com. Through this partnership, he hopes the achievements of regional heads can be publicised more widely to the public via the media.