Why Does the Impact of Budget Efficiency Affect ASN at the Middle to Lower Levels More?

Are high-ranking officials not affected by budget efficiency?

Budget savings impact all employees at all levels, from lower-level employees to high-ranking officials. At the State Civil Service Agency, Middle-ranking Officials only receive a maximum fuel allocation of 10 liters per working day.

Meanwhile, for Senior High Officials and Main Expert Functional Officials, they do not receive fuel allocation. Meanwhile, at the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections, the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Indonesian Immigration on Friday (31/01/2025) was held simply. The ceremony was limited to cutting tumpeng, praying together, and showing a video of immigration history.

Meanwhile, implementation at the regional level, technical implementing units (UPT), and Indonesian representatives are limited to 15 participants. In addition, Minister of Immigration and Corrections Agus Andrianto interacted with his staff in the regions using video conference.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that savings at the Ministry of Health were made for official travel. Budi even planned to use economy class aircraft for official travel. He also asked echelon I officials to use economy class aircraft during official travel, not to use business class aircraft as before there was budget efficiency.

How do middle and lower level employees perceive budget efficiency policies?

President Prabowo Subianto instructed budget cuts for several expenditure items, such as office stationery, ceremonial activities, meetings and seminars, studies and analysis, and training and technical guidance. Budget cuts were also made for honorariums for output activities and professional services, printing and souvenirs, rental of buildings, vehicles and equipment, application licenses, consulting services, government assistance, maintenance, official travel, equipment and machinery, and infrastructure.

However, several ministries/institutions also implemented savings for several other posts. Kemenpan and RB, for example, reduced elevator operations and only turned on some central air conditioning (AC) devices. Operations of pick-up cars for employees were also decided to be eliminated.

This situation makes some employees spend more time in other cool rooms, such as in mosques and canteens. Before there was efficiency, employees were generally still in the office environment even though their working hours should have finished. Even, to overtime to finish the work. However, currently, working is just coming and going home.

Before the budget efficiency policy was implemented, every day there were always food and drinks ordered and delivered by couriers to the office for meeting consumption needs or others. But now, there are no more food orders and only consumption orders for individuals.

What is the impact of the budget efficiency gap between high-ranking officials and lower-middle-ranking employees?

Public policy observer Agus Pambagio said that savings should be made proportionally and not burden one group of ASN. Savings should not only be applied to middle-class ASN facilities, but facilities for upper-class ASN must also be made more efficient.

According to him, currently the implementation of budget efficiency has actually created injustice among different ASN groups. Middle-class ASNs bear the impact of efficiency more severely than the upper class. This will certainly trigger a decline in work enthusiasm, even though they play a crucial role in supporting work in their respective ministries/institutions.

Moreover, they will also lose some additional income considering that business trips are reduced, as are meetings outside the office. This means that the extra money they usually get will be lost. "For lower-middle class ASN, the extra is very important to survive," said Agus.

What will happen to the quality of public services as a result of budget efficiency?

Budget cuts at the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) have the potential to impact the declining quality of protection for witnesses and victims. In fact, the number of requests for witness and victim protection continues to increase every year, with more than 10,217 requests in 2024.

With the budget cuts, LPSK was forced to reject several requests for protection assistance. "We will be forced to reject the request. We still don't know how (to work around it), we are still looking for a way out for savings," said LPSK Deputy Chair Susilaningtias.

Likewise, the National Human Rights Commission will have difficulty following up on the 5,300 public complaints that come in every year regarding alleged human rights violations in Indonesia. Of the remaining budget, most of it is only enough for employee salaries and daily operations. Meanwhile, the program implementation is very small.

Komnas HAM Commissioner Anis Hidayah said that the budget constraints would impact the effectiveness of handling the 5,300 reports of alleged human rights violations in Indonesia received by Komnas HAM each year. "With a small program budget, of course not all cases can be followed up," she said.

What is the commitment of ministry leaders in providing public services amidst budget efficiency?

Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform (Menpan and RB) Rini Widyantini stated that her party acted adaptively to Presidential Instruction No. 1/2025 concerning Spending Efficiency in the Implementation of the 2025 State Budget and Regional Budget. "Adjustments to spending posts to program and activity evaluations are calculated in detail to ensure budget effectiveness," said Rini in Jakarta, Thursday (6/2/2025).

As directed by President Prabowo Subianto, the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform is striving for budget efficiency so that it is more targeted and has a real impact on the community. The instruction was followed up by making adjustments to several operational and non-operational spending items.

According to Rini, adjustments in her office were made in accordance with the provisions issued by the Ministry of Finance. Several things that have been adjusted include business trips, procurement of office stationery, meeting activities, seminars, socialization, and ceremonial activities.

"We continue to pay attention to the ministry's important programs and activities so that we can continue to improve the quality of public services and bureaucratic reform," said Rini.