Home Affairs Ministry: Central priority programmes still consider regional conditions
The Ministry of Home Affairs has stated that the implementation of central government priority programmes continues to take into account the diversity of real conditions in each region.
Director of Regional Development Planning, Evaluation and Information at the Directorate General of Regional Development of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Iwan Kurniawan, said in Malang, East Java, on Thursday that one of the conditions of concern to the central government in implementing programmes in the regions is the fiscal strength of each district and city government.
“So national priority programmes certainly take regional conditions into account, including Malang City. This means they are not simply implemented, but require alignment from the central government in order to carry out the policy,” said Iwan.
One of the priority programmes receiving attention is waste management, implemented through the Local Service Delivery Improvement Programme (LSDP).
Iwan said the central government, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, consistently provides support to the regions so that they are able to implement the priority programmes that have been drawn up.
“Support ranges from budgeting, mentoring support for guidelines, and so on,” said Iwan, who is also a former Acting Mayor of Malang.
In addition, he said that the visit of Ministry of Home Affairs officials to Malang City was part of synchronising development plans between the central government and the regions.
The process of preparing development planning documents cannot be separated from several agendas, the first being politics in the form of policy from the regional head.
According to Iwan, regional heads are obliged to implement the priority policies that have been drawn up while simultaneously carrying out the central government’s agenda in order to deliver optimal services to the public.
“So regional heads do not merely fulfil central policy, but also need policies of their own, including their political promises,” he said.
After visiting Malang City, Iwan and his team will visit a number of other regions to seek input regarding efforts to link development programmes initiated by the regions with central policy.
“In particular, improving our duties and functions at the Ministry of Home Affairs in order to carry out synchronisation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor of Malang Ali Muthohirin said the meeting with Ministry of Home Affairs officials served as a platform for the Malang City Government to deepen its understanding of national policy and development direction.
In addition to Malang City, the meeting was attended by Regional Development Planning Agencies from a number of surrounding areas, such as Kediri, Batu City, and Malang Regency.
“This is also an evaluation of central and regional development that has been running so far,” he said.