Palace: Regional Head Retreat Mandate of Regional Government Law, More Economical Costs

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The government has dismissed the retreat or leadership orientation for 505 regional heads from the 2024 Regional Head Elections or Pilkada after being inaugurated on February 20 as a form of waste. Efficiency measures have been taken. The retreat or orientation for hundreds of new regional heads is also a mandate from the Regional Government Law.

Head of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Hasan Nasbi, Friday (2/14/2025) at the PCO office, Jakarta, explained that Law Number 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government orders the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) to provide training to newly elected regional heads. In addition, the Regional Government Law orders the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) to provide training to elected regional heads.

Coaching for regional heads is regulated in Article 374 Paragraph (3) and (4) of Law No. 23/2014. It states that general and technical coaching is carried out in the form of facilitation, consultation, education and training, as well as research and development.

"Now these trainings, these leadership trainings are combined. So, it's only seven days. So, the training of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the training of Lemhannas are combined, so the cooperation of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Lemhannas, the costs can be more efficient, the process is more efficient, and in terms of time it is also much more efficient," he said.

According to the plan, the retreat will be held at Glamping Borobudur Internasional Golf, in the Military Academy complex, Magelang, February 21-28, or one day after the inauguration of 505 regional heads and deputy heads.

Hasan Nasbi also explained about the change in funding for organizing the retreat from being borne jointly by the Ministry of Home Affairs and local governments, to being borne entirely by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to him, the decision to jointly finance was taken before the Ministry of Home Affairs budget was reconstructed as a follow-up to budget efficiency. Before the reconstruction, the Ministry of Home Affairs saw its budget being cut, but on the other hand, each regional government was seen to have allocated a training budget for the new regional head. Thus, the decision was taken for joint financing.

However, after the reconstruction, the budget of the Ministry of Home Affairs was sufficient to finance all retreat activities. With that reality, the financing was taken over by the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were no more contributions from the local government.

The financing changes are stated in the Circular Letter (SE) of the Minister of Home Affairs Number 200.5/692/SJ signed by the Minister of Home Affairs Muhammad Tito Karnavian, Thursday (2/13/2025). The letter was addressed to governors and deputy governors, regents and deputy regents, and mayors and deputy mayors throughout Indonesia.

Separately, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Bima Arya Sugiarto confirmed the change in financing. According to him, the initial decision to share the cost of the retreat came from the aspirations of several regional governments that were submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs' Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDM).

The proposal is based on the availability of budget allocation for capacity building of regional government ranks, including regional heads, in the regional government. The budget is always allocated by the regional government so that in carrying out tasks and policy making they truly understand the process of planning, implementing and controlling and supervising the APBD.

Based on the reality and proposal, BPSDM had issued a circular to all regional heads, the contents of which were that the retreat would be jointly funded by the regional government and the Ministry of Home Affairs. For your information, this letter had circulated widely on social media. Not only because the regional government had to share the costs of the event which was actually held for the benefit of the central government, but also because of the large budget that had to be spent by the regional head.

"However, the Minister of Home Affairs then decided that the regional head's costs would not be charged to the APBD but would be fully borne by the Ministry of Home Affairs," continued Bima Arya.

The reason is, in increasing the capacity of elected regional heads who are not all from bureaucratic backgrounds, the Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible as a mentor and supervisor of regional government. "So the previous circular was revised according to the decision of the Minister of Home Affairs," he added.

Former Director General of Regional Autonomy of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Djohermansyah Djohan when contacted, said that the practice that has been running so far, after the inauguration of regional heads, regional head orientation courses are always held in Jakarta. However, the implementation is in waves per batch. One batch usually consists of 40 regional heads and deputy heads. The orientation course lasts for one month.

"The regional heads were gathered at the BPDSM Kemendagri in Jakarta. All costs are borne by the central government through the APBN at the Kemendagri, never from the APBD," said the Professor of the Institute of Domestic Government (IPDN).

Why is the regional head orientation course held for one month?

According to him, regional heads must really understand their respective duties. Regional heads come from various fields. Some are politicians, some are from civil society organizations, bureaucracy, businessmen, and so on. They must be given an understanding to carry out their new duties as regional heads.

"So, it provides more knowledge about leadership and managerial knowledge, skills, and technical. So, it's not like army training. There are exercises, but only in the morning," he said.

The gradual implementation of the orientation is also considered more effective and efficient. Because, if it is only done for a week, the material that will be delivered is less in-depth.

With the implementation in waves, the budget needed can be gradual. Because, usually the APBN funds are not available directly at once in large amounts. If the retreat is carried out suddenly without any funding readiness, he is worried that the implementation will be chaotic in terms of funding sources.

Moreover, currently the government is promoting a program of saving or efficiency of the state budget as a follow-up to Presidential Instruction Number 1 of 2025. The Presidential Instruction regulates restrictions on official travel and ceremonies. However, with the plan for a simultaneous retreat at Akmil Magelang, the things prohibited in the Presidential Instruction will be carried out by the central government. This is considered contradictory and inconsistent.

"The travel expenses of the regional head to Akmil, Magelang, must also still come from the APBD. Because the location and distance of each are different. So, how is the accountability report from the APBD? Because official travel is prohibited in Presidential Instruction No. 1/2025," said Djohermansyah.