Dasco Denies Budget Efficiency Does Not Touch DPR

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from the Gerindra Party faction, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, denied that the government's budget efficiency policy does not target his institution. According to him, all ministries/agencies, including the House of Representatives, have had their budgets cut.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani recently issued a document containing a list of spending that must be cut by each ministry/institution in order to create budget efficiency. However, based on the document received by Kompas, not all ministries/institutions were affected by the efficiency.

Among them are the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Both are not subject to budget efficiency measures, so their budget ceilings for 2025 remain intact, with the DPR at IDR 6.6 trillion and the MPR at IDR 969 billion.

A different condition is experienced by the Regional Representative Council (DPD) which is affected by budget efficiency. The DPD's budget ceiling for 2025 reaches Rp 1.3 trillion, but Rp 511 billion of it has been cut.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, when met at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, on Tuesday (4/2/2025), stated that there is no discrimination in the budget efficiency policy. He claimed that all state institutions, including the House of Representatives, are also affected by this policy.

"All institutions, yes (are subject to budget cuts)," said Dasco. However, the Daily Chairman of the Gerindra Party did not remember the exact amount of the DPR budget that was cut.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from the Golkar Party Faction, Adies Kadir, also admitted that he did not remember the total DPR budget that was affected by the efficiency policy. "We don't remember. We don't take care of it," he said.

What is certain, continued Adies, is that all institutions are subject to budget cuts. One of the items affected by the budget cuts is travel expenses. "Those (travel expenses) are also subject to cuts. There are no additional (funds) either. The important thing is that all institutions are affected," said Adies.

Separately, a researcher from the Forum of Concerned Indonesian Parliament Society (Formappi), Lucius Karus, opined that the government must have reasons for cutting and maintaining the budgets of several ministries/agencies in 2025. It is likely that this is adjusted to President Prabowo Subianto's priority programs for this year.

However, Lucius continued, maintaining budget allocations for several institutions with programs that tend to be inefficient clearly shows the government's inconsistency in promoting efficiency. The easiest way to see another reason beyond just budget efficiency is in the government's decision to leave the budgets of the DPR and MPR untouched.

"Considering the reason for efficiency, the effort to cut the budget of the DPR/MPR is important as an example for other state institutions and can also serve as a reference for the public to see the spirit between the executive and legislative branches in ensuring the targeted and beneficial use of the budget for the people," said Lucius.

According to Lucius, the efficiency of the DPR and MPR budgets is not just a matter of budget technicalities, but more importantly, it is about setting an example of a frugal attitude for the sake of more pressing state goals. Likewise, if we look at the details of the allocation of the DPR or MPR budget, there are several routine programs that should be able to be implemented more efficiently.

For example, the tendency of the DPR not to maximize the recess period and using the recess to hold meetings actually indicates that the recess activities are not carried out optimally. In fact, the recess budget for each member is very large.

Wasting recess time for other activities outside the electoral district, clearly shows a waste. Therefore, the budget and also the duration of the recess should be reviewed to ensure its effectiveness and efficiency can be done.

In addition, overseas working visits are still in the DPR and MPR programs. Including the socialization of the four pillars carried out by the MPR, so far the results have not been revealed to the public.

"The program budgets should be able to be cut if the desire to make savings is not only the responsibility of the government, but also the DPR and MPR," said Lucius.

He believes that if the budget of the two institutions in Senayan, Jakarta, is not cut, it is very likely that political considerations are used, not efficiency considerations. Political considerations are used more because the government really needs the support of the DPR for the smooth running of its mission to save the budget.

The DPR's approval will be a red carpet for the government to freely manipulate the budget that has been set in the 2025 State Budget. Moreover, the government is still expecting parliamentary support to facilitate the government's political work.