Jamintel Pushes for Strengthened Village Governance Through the Jaga Desa Program
Deputy Attorney General for Intelligence (Jamintel) Reda Manthovani delivered remarks at the socialization event for the Village Guardian Prosecutor Program (Jaga Desa) on Saturday, February 14, 2026. The socialization was held in conjunction with the inauguration of the provincial and district chapter boards of ABPEDNAS in North Sumatra.
On the occasion, Reda Manthovani said the event represents a step toward building villages from the ground up for the sake of economic equity and poverty eradication. The Jaga Desa program, he said, is aligned with Asta Cita and President Prabowo Subianto’s directive programs. He emphasized that villages are no longer mere objects but rather subjects and the primary engines of national development that must be managed transparently and accountably.
Reda said the major challenge in village governance lies in the rising number of corruption cases involving village officials. A total of 187 cases were recorded in 2023, which then surged to 275 cases in 2024 and reached 535 cases in the 2025 period. “These facts show that the expansion of authority and the size of village budgets must be accompanied by stronger oversight and mentoring systems, because a purely repressive approach is not enough to stem the potential for irregularities,” Reda said.
The Jaga Desa program, Reda said, was created to address these challenges. The initiative prioritizes a preventive function through legal mentoring and the use of technology. One of its key instruments is the Jaga Desa Application (Real Time Monitoring Village Management Funding), which enables transparent and accurate monitoring of financial management. The application provides various strategic communication channels, ranging from a consultation space for village heads facing threats from individuals disrupting governance, to a dedicated reporting channel to Jamintel to ensure confidentiality and rapid response to alleged intimidation from within the Attorney General’s Office itself.
Beyond budget oversight, Jamintel also outlined the Attorney General’s Office’s active role in supporting the National Food Security Program through cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture. This collaboration aims to ensure the distribution of agricultural production inputs such as fertilizers and seeds reaches the right targets, while also strengthening village cooperatives as pillars of the people’s economy.
“The Attorney General’s Office is committed to continuing to uphold the principle of ultimum remedium, where criminal law enforcement becomes the last resort after all efforts at guidance and governance improvement have been optimally carried out,” he said.
In closing, Jamintel called on all elements of the Village Consultative Body (BPD) under ABPEDNAS to become strategic partners in carrying out checks and balances at the village level. “With strong synergy among the Attorney General’s Office, regional governments, and BPD, it is hoped that a zero-corruption condition can be achieved, where no more village heads are entangled in legal cases. This serves as the primary foundation for realizing villages in North Sumatra that are advanced, prosperous, and self-reliant through asset management and the development of local potential guided by the law,” Reda said.