Minister of Home Affairs: Many Local Government Contract Workers Recruited Due to Personal Connections
Minister of Home Affairs Muhammad Tito Karnavian has highlighted the practice of recruiting non-permanent staff (honorer) from the campaign teams of regional heads as a primary cause for the swelling of regional personnel expenditures. According to Tito, local officials frequently recruit contract workers without considering urgent operational needs.
Generally, Tito noted, these individuals are placed in administrative roles despite often lacking adequate competence and capability. “Many contract workers are recruited due to their closeness to officials or campaign teams,” Tito stated during a working meeting with Commission II of the House of Representatives (DPR) in Jakarta on Monday, 8 June 2026.
Tito argued that this practice leads to a continuous increase in staff who were hired without regard for necessity or skill. After years of service, these workers often demand permanent status through appointment as Government Employees with Work Agreements (PPPK) or Civil Servants (ASN). Consequently, local governments face mounting budgetary pressure as they must absorb the rising costs of personnel spending.
“Once they accumulate, they demand certainty to be appointed as PPPK or ASN. When they are paid and funded, they automatically become a burden on personnel expenditure,” Tito said.
The former Chief of the Indonesian National Police explained that many regions are currently struggling to comply with the maximum personnel expenditure limit of 30 per cent of the total Regional Budget (APBD), as stipulated in Law Number 1 of 2022 regarding the Financial Relations between the Central Government and Regional Governments (HKPD). This provision is scheduled to take full effect in January 2027 following a five-year transition period.
If the habit of recruiting contract workers based solely on personal connections rather than formation needs persists, many regions will fail to meet this legal requirement. Therefore, he urged all regional heads to cease the recruitment of new contract workers. Tito emphasised that while the need for teachers and healthcare workers can still be considered due to their direct link to public services, the addition of administrative staff must be strictly limited.
“I urge all regional heads to be firm. There should be no new contract workers, as they will become a burden on personnel spending and a burden for subsequent regional heads,” he said.
On the same occasion, Tito revealed that the majority of local governments still have personnel expenditure proportions exceeding the prescribed limit. According to Ministry of Home Affairs data, 479 regions, or approximately 87.7 per cent, still record personnel spending above 30 per cent of their APBD, while only 67 regions have fallen below the threshold.
He also explained that most regions still possess weak fiscal capacity and remain dependent on transfers from the central government. Of the 546 regions mapped by the government, approximately 85 per cent fall into the weak fiscal capacity category. To address this, the government is encouraging regions to increase their Local Genuine Revenue (PAD) by improving licensing services, optimising tax and levy collection, and reforming Regional Owned Enterprises (BUMD).
Furthermore, the central government is discussing options to extend the transition period for the implementation of the 30 per cent personnel expenditure cap. Tito noted that this option has been discussed with the Minister of Finance and the Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform. “At the very least, there should still be time for regions to think and work on making necessary adjustments,” he concluded.