Purbaya confirms no more sectoral egos within the Ministry of Finance

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has confirmed that sectoral egos no longer exist within the Ministry of Finance. He stated that the ministry has now become a more flexible and adaptive organisation compared to several years ago, as barriers between work units have begun to be dismantled. “Is the Ministry of Finance agile? If you had asked two years ago, perhaps not. Now, I think it is agile. Although silos still exist, we are reducing them as much as possible. So it is no longer like it used to be,” Purbaya said during a working meeting with Commission XI of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday. He acknowledged that previously, several directorates general within the Ministry of Finance often operated in isolation, resulting in suboptimal coordination between units. For example, cooperation between the Directorate General of Taxes and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, which was once considered difficult, has now begun to improve. “For instance, in the past, the tax and customs offices found it extremely difficult to cooperate. Now, it has been resolved. So we are pushing for good cooperation,” he said. The state treasurer also highlighted the issue of staff mobility between units, which had been hampered by organisational barriers. “There was a case of an employee transferring from the Directorate General of Budget to Taxes, and it was extremely difficult because each had its own silos. Even though it is one organisation with many people,” he added. Purbaya committed to continuously strengthening synergy between work units going forward so that all units can operate as a single organisational entity. “So that others can be more synergistic, in the sense that the Ministry of Finance is actually one entity. There is no need for ego within a single directorate general. We will sort it out,” he concluded.