Interior Minister Tito Opens Musrenbang for North Sumatra's RKPD, Stresses Importance of Thorough Planning
Interior Minister (Mendagri) Muhammad Tito Karnavian has emphasised the importance of thorough planning in preparing the Regional Government Work Plan (RKPD). High-quality planning is seen as the key to driving significant changes.
He made these remarks while delivering guidance and opening the Musyawarah Perencanaan Pembangunan (Musrenbang) for North Sumatra Province’s 2027 RKPD at the Santika Dyandra Hotel in Medan, North Sumatra, on Wednesday, 22 April 2026.
According to him, Musrenbang should not be viewed merely as a routine agenda (business as usual). Instead, the forum must serve as the initial foundation for formulating directed and impactful regional development directions.
“Thorough planning, mature quality, meaning detailed, determines 60 percent of a programme’s success,” he said.
The Interior Minister continued that good planning must be prepared by listening to aspirations from the bottom. The provincial government needs to absorb proposals, desires, and hopes at the district/city level. Moreover, the province does not stand alone but is part of the national government system. Therefore, in addition to receiving bottom-up input from districts/cities, the province must also align it with central government programmes.
“Certainly, the Governor and his team, as elected regional heads, when listening from the centre, are representatives of the central government in the regions. But as elected regional heads, they certainly have their own thoughts. Earlier, the [North Sumatra Governor] has outlined it; I have heard the concepts and roadmaps for 2027,” he explained.
Furthermore, the Interior Minister stated that the vision and mission of regional heads become the hallmark of strong leadership. Regional heads are required to have a clear direction regarding regional development outlined in a roadmap. In this context, he emphasised that leadership is not only determined by authority but also by the strength of the concepts possessed.
“Having power, authority, but that is not enough; one must have followers, subordinates. But more than that is having concepts,” he added.
According to him, the purpose of Musrenbang is to formulate concrete and measurable activity plans through deliberation to achieve agreement on priority programmes. He stressed that the more detailed the planning prepared, the better, because a deeper understanding of problems will help in formulating the right strategies.