On DIY's 271st Anniversary, Eko Suwanto Lists Outstanding Tasks for Regional Government
Eko Suwanto, chairman of Commission A of the Yogyakarta Special Region (DIY) Provincial Parliament, congratulated the region on its 271st anniversary. On this occasion, Eko also highlighted a series of tasks that must be completed by the DIY Regional Government (Pemda).
“Happy 271st birthday, of course there is hope that all the people of Jogja will be happy. And best wishes for observing Ramadan and welcoming Eid al-Fitr 1447 H,” said Eko in a written statement.
Eko outlined several critical challenges for the DIY Regional Government to address, ranging from disaster mitigation to land conversion.
“We in DIY enjoy the beauty of the coast on the southern coast and Mount Merapi to the north. This is a blessing. How do we ensure disaster mitigation to face the potential megathrust earthquake and tsunami on the fault line we have,” he explained.
“On Mount Merapi, the condition is on alert level 3 in the face of threats from hot cloud flows and hydrometeorological disaster threats; how we make this disaster-resilient community is what matters,” he added.
The next challenge involves poor air and water quality in the Jogja urban area and waste management.
“Land conversion per year reaches 200 hectares annually to non-agricultural use. As an illustration, Yogyakarta now has only 34 hectares of agricultural land remaining from the 3,281 hectares of city area,” he noted.
In addition, based on DIY development data, the poverty rate still stands at 10.23 per cent, not to mention issues related to the Gini ratio and unemployment. Eko had an opportunity to meet residents living in concerning conditions.
The Pemda and DIY Provincial Parliament are committed to completing development programmes to address poverty and unemployment by creating job opportunities.
“How can all development programmes run well? At the same time, a fiscal tsunami comes from Jakarta. The allocation of special autonomy funds decreased by 581 billion rupiah from the previous 1.581 trillion rupiah. Overall, the DIY regional budget for 2026 decreased by 753 billion rupiah,” said the PDIP politician.
Eko also urged the DIY Regional Government to maximise the potential of corporate social responsibility or CSR funds.
“There is a good example, Mayor Hasto Wardoyo, the Mayor of Yogyakarta who carries out house renovations of around three houses per week using a CSR fund scheme and Baznas funds,” he mentioned.
“We also encourage the DIY regional government to optimise assets to cover the reduction in village fund allocations, which have been reduced by as much as 74 per cent. This is already a case of falling downstairs,” he continued.
Nevertheless, Eko believed DIY is capable of helping its people amid weakening fiscal capacity.
“Born from optimism, there is no other word than commitment to help our people; we fully support Pemda in allocating to complete these outstanding tasks. We also appreciate the property tax (PBB) policy not increasing and the elimination of penalties from the past five years; this benefits the people,” he said.
“In addition, we are also pushing for the DIY regional budget to be allocated more to villages and sub-villages, in addition to financial support to districts and municipalities. In 2026, we allocate 120 million per village and sub-village throughout DIY,” he concluded.