New Special Autonomy Fund Disbursement Scheme

For 20 years, the provincial governments of Papua and West Papua have received special autonomy funds (Otsus). Every year, the number of special autonomy funds transferred to the regions always increases. Unfortunately, the absorption of the special autonomy funds aimed at welfare is still considered not optimal. It is not even felt for the Papuan people as the program target.

From various evaluations carried out, the government has decided to create a new scheme for distributing special autonomy funds. The Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawati said, starting next year, the implementation of the special autonomy fund will be carried out in more detail.

"We will detail the implementation and reporting of the special autonomy fund. Each of them is seen based on the evaluation of the last 20 years," said Minister Sri Mulyani in a virtual DPD RI Committee I Working Meeting, Jakarta, Tuesday (26/1).

The concept of the funding scheme will be based on grant funds and based on earmarked performance (block grants and performance). In the use of the budget, the special autonomy fund will only fund routine activities, social assistance, religious assistance and general government affairs.

In terms of planning, programs that use special autonomy funds must have performance targets set out in the Mid-Term Master Plan. Then assistance to the activity plan is carried out by the technical ministries / agencies.

In terms of allocation, the special autonomy fund is used based on a balance of regional variables, development, and the number of indigenous Papuans in each region. In addition, the allocation will take into account performance achievements and performance targets in the Mid-Term Master Plan.

In the distribution of the special autonomy fund, it will be based on the performance of the realization of certain absorption and output at each stage. So that implementation refers to the annual activity plan and activity plan licensed by the technical ministries / agencies.

Then, in reporting the use of special autonomy funds, it must be made in every activity implementation, absorption performance, real achievement and outcome achievement. All these stages, said Minister Sri Mulyani, would be carried out using an application system for more effective transparency and monitoring.

"All these stages will be applied and not dependent on physical meetings. So that it can be carried out transparently and create better accountability," he said.

With this new scheme, it is hoped that there will no longer be any assumption that the special autonomy funds are not felt by the Papuan people. "So regarding the feeling that the funds are there, but not yet felt, now that is what we are trying to overcome because it is ironic," he concluded.

Source: https://www.merdeka.com/uang/ini-skema-baru-pencairan-dana-otsus-papua-dan-papua-barat.html