Siak Regent Complains to Gibran About Inherited Debt of Nearly Rp400 Billion

Siak Regent Afni Zulkifli has voiced her concerns to Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, stating that her region is burdened with an inherited debt of up to Rp400 billion from the previous administration. She conveyed her concerns during a meeting on Friday (17/7), sharing the moment on social media. “I have just taken office. I inherited a debt of almost Rp400 billion. So we are barely able to build anything,” she said. Despite the meeting, Afni has requested a special audience with Gibran, submitting a formal letter addressed to both the Vice President and Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa. She explained that a producing region like Siak is heavily dependent on Revenue Sharing Funds (DBH), as other sources of locally generated revenue (PAD) cannot be optimised quickly because most of the land has already been allocated for business activities. “The land in producing regions is all used up. It has become Cultivation Rights (HGU) and Industrial Plantation Forests (HTI),” Afni stated. According to Afni, DBH is a right of producing regions and should not be treated as an optional policy. “There are statements from certain parties suggesting that DBH will only be given if a region does this, this, this, and this,” she said. “It is as if DBH is optional. Yet, as the name suggests, it is revenue-sharing funds. Funds distributed from the revenue obtained by the state.” She argued that producing regions have long borne the impacts of natural resource exploitation, including environmental burdens, social issues, and conflicts, and are therefore entitled to their share of DBH in accordance with regulations. Afni also rejected any comparison between the fiscal conditions of regency and city governments. “We certainly object to being compared with city governments. It is different, especially under the Law on Financial Relations between the Central Government and Regional Governments (HKPD),” she said. Looking ahead, Afni urged the central government to fulfil the rights of producing regions, both through the distribution of DBH and through programmes that genuinely meet the needs of the local community. “We fully support all of the President’s programmes. But we hope that the rights of producing regions are not reduced, because everything goes back to the community,” she concluded.