Prabowo slams ‘little kings’, defends $30bn budget cuts

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has used study trips to Australia as an example of where budget savings should be made.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto: ‘I want to save money, that money is for the people.’ Picture: AFP

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has branded critics of his massive budget cuts as “little kings”, and used study trips to Australia as an example of where savings should be made.

Critics warned the 306.69 trillion rupiah ($29.8bn) cuts would have a devastating impact on public services, from tsunami warning to basic infrastructure maintenance.

In a decree signed last month, the President demanded all government agencies needed to save trillions of rupiah, forcing bureaucrats to take every penny-pinching measure possible, from turning the lights off at government buildings, reducing airconditioner use, encouraging working from home and cancelling government programs.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency was ordered to cut more than half its budget, which may affect many of its essential operational tools, including nearly 600 sensors for monitoring earthquakes and tsunamis spread across Indonesia.

“The accuracy of weather, climate, earthquake, and tsunami information will decline from 90 per cent to 60 per cent, the speed of tsunami early warning information will increase from three minutes to five minutes or more, and the range of earthquake and tsunami information dissemination will drop by 70 per cent,” agency spokesman Muslihhuddin said.

The agency has requested exemption from the budget cuts.

Other government bodies such as the National Search and Rescue Agency, essential in disaster-prone Indonesia, also faced significant budget cuts. It has postponed the procurement of equipment such as drones, long-range radar and handheld sonar essential for its operations at the scene of serious accidents or disasters.

The Public Works Ministry also faces a massive budget cut of 81 trillion rupiah, which means it would not be able to fund many basic public works programs such as maintenance of roads, ports and dams, let alone new projects for the Nusantara Capital City.

The President said he was aware of critics from within his government but demanded an end to unnecessary and wasteful spending, blaming officials going on frivolous trips on behalf of the government, as well as the prolonged policy seminars and focus-group talks.

“Some people oppose me in the bureaucracy. They feel untouchable by the law, they feel like little kings,” he told the Congress of Muslimat NU in Surabaya on Monday.

“I want to save money, that money is for the people, to feed the children of the people.

“For (the next) five years, don’t go abroad if necessary. The ones who need to go abroad are those on duty … but not duties that are made up just for travelling. If you want to travel, use your own money.

“(There are officials) wanting to learn how to eradicate poverty but they make a study visit to Australia. Australia is one of the 10 richest countries in the world, so why learn from Australia?”

Bhima Yudhistira, director of the Centre of Economic and Law Studies, said Mr Prabowo’s extreme austerity measures lacked clarity on what’s essential and what’s not, and may have fatal consequences because the efficiency isn’t done properly.

“Prabowo is blinded by his ambition for the free nutritious lunch program but is sacrificing many expenditures, and the high economic growth target may not be achieved,” he said.

“Because the cuts were actually for running programs too, especially in food and energy sectors.

“Like infrastructure, for example. Doesn’t food and energy self-sufficiency need supporting infrastructure? If the Public Works Ministry is affected that much, and no explanation is given on what specific programs are affected, wouldn’t this create a blunder in food and energy self-sufficiency?”