Regional Autonomy Challenges Grow More Complex, Home Affairs Ministry Accelerates Grand Design for Regional Structuring

Jakarta – Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Bima Arya Sugiarto has emphasised that the governance of regional autonomy is currently facing increasingly complex challenges and cannot be viewed solely from the perspective of either decentralisation or the recentralisation of authority. “Regional autonomy cannot only be seen as recentralisation or decentralisation; we must look at it from a much broader, highly complex perspective,” he stated during the launch of the book Decentralization, Democracy, and Local Politics in Indonesia at the Populi Center office in South Jakarta on Tuesday. According to Bima, this complexity encompasses various interrelated 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 carried out comprehensively and based on real needs on the ground. Bima noted that the Ministry of Home Affairs is currently accelerating the formulation of the Grand Design for Regional Structuring (Desartada) to serve as a policy foundation for a regional autonomy system that is more adaptive to actual needs and realities. The drafting of the Desartada is targeted for completion by the end of 2026. Bima also revealed that the ministry’s evaluation indicates that most regions, including those resulting from redistricting, remain in the medium-to-low fiscal capacity category. He explained that this condition demonstrates a high dependency on transfer funds from the central government, making regional self-reliance a persistent challenge to be jointly addressed. Nevertheless, he assessed that many regions are still capable of showing positive performance through innovation and strong leadership. One example he cited was the city of Jambi, which successfully mobilised funding sources beyond the regional budget (APBD), reaching more than Rp1.96 trillion to support programmes addressing stunting and poverty alleviation. “That is also an interesting portrait, showing that not all regions collapse when the General Allocation Fund (TKD) is adjusted and they are asked to oversee priority programmes. Some regions are improving because their regional heads are managing it well,” he revealed. Bima further stressed that the success of regional development is determined not only by the size of the budget but also by the quality of leadership in managing resources and fostering cross-sector collaboration.