Regional Autonomy Challenges Grow More Complex, Home Affairs Ministry Accelerates Desartada
The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Bima Arya Sugiarto, has emphasised that the governance of regional autonomy is currently facing increasingly complex challenges. He noted that these issues cannot be viewed solely through the lens of decentralisation or the recent re-centralisation of authority.
“Regional autonomy cannot be seen merely as re-centralisation or decentralisation; we must look at it from a much broader and more complex perspective,” he stated in a written statement on Tuesday (9/6/2026).
These remarks were made during the book launch of ‘Decentralisation, Democracy, and Local Politics in Indonesia’ at the Populi Center office in South Jakarta. Bima explained that this complexity encompasses various interconnected aspects, ranging from institutional design and the quality of regional leadership to fiscal capacity and the effectiveness of development programme implementation. Consequently, efforts to refine regional governance must be comprehensive and based on real-world needs.
He emphasised that the Ministry of Home Affairs is currently accelerating the preparation of the Grand Design for Regional Arrangement (Desartada) to serve as the policy foundation for a regional autonomy system that is more adaptive to field realities. The preparation of Desartada is targeted for completion by the end of 2026.
Bima added that evaluations by the Ministry of Home Affairs show that most regions, including newly formed regions, remain in the medium to low fiscal capacity category. This condition indicates a high dependency on fund transfers from the central government, meaning regional independence remains a significant task that must be addressed collectively.
Nevertheless, Bima noted that many regions have demonstrated positive performance through innovation and strong leadership. He cited Jambi City as an example, which mobilised funding sources outside the regional budget (APBD) amounting to over Rp1.96 trillion to support stunting prevention and poverty alleviation programmes.
“It is an interesting portrait that not all regions falter when Regional Transfer Funds (TKD) undergo adjustments and are required to oversee priority programmes; there are regions that improve because their regional heads actively manage them,” he said.
Furthermore, Bima emphasised that the success of regional development is not determined solely by the size of the budget, but also by the quality of leadership in managing resources and building cross-sector collaboration. Therefore, he urged academics to continue providing constructive input during the regional arrangement policy-making process.
Bima revealed that a blend of scientific study and empirical experience is essential so that the designed regional autonomy framework can address development challenges more effectively. “This autonomy design must truly integrate academic studies with existing empirical realities, making dialogues such as this vital for providing input to us all,” he concluded.