Two FEB UI Economists: Start with Sectoral Matters

Two FEB UI Economists: Start with Sectoral Matters

Nino Eka Putra ~ FEB UI Public Relations Officer

DEPOK, Monday (29/6/2020) – Two economists who are also lecturers at FEB UI, Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Muhamad Chatib Basri, were interviewed by Kompas daily in a news report entitled “Start with Sectoral Matters”. Below is the article.

”Start with Sectoral Matters”

Public policy reform should be carried out to keep up with the latest challenges. Reform could start with practical and sectoral matters.

The challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic are different from past economic crises. The government should also take different approaches and adopt a new mindset. Therefore, public policy reform is crucial to address current challenges, starting with sectoral, simple and practical ideas, M. Chatib Basri, who served as minister of finance in 2013-2014, said at the launch of the Think Policy Society on Sunday (28/6/2020). The launch was held virtually and was attended by hundreds of young people. The society is a community of young professionals seeking to promote inter-sectoral collaboration in formulating public policies based on database and empathy. The society was initiated by a group of young professionals, including World Bank economist Andhyta F. Utami.

“When talking about public policies, there is one thing that is often overlooked, namely public policy reform. Economic theories only talk about the benefits of reform for the state, not how it should be done,” he said. According to Chatib, reform has always been associated with big and complex changes. In fact, the model is not always realistic. There are many constraints in formulating public policies, one of them political capital. Big ideas that are only good on paper will be pointless when they fail to get across policy stakeholders. Therefore, public policy reform in the current pandemic situation should start with simple and small things in each sector. Pro-reform public policies not need necessarily be in the form of big and complex ideas; it could start with practical and local  matters.

“Reform can start with simple matters within our control. Only then can we pursue complex reform,” he said. Chatib cited as an example the origin of the “One Stop Service” investment concept of the Investment Coordinating Board (Badan Koordinasi Penanaman Modal, BKPM). This is because investors need informative explanations before they invest their money.

Yanuar Nugroho, academician and  former Deputy II of the Chief of the Presidential Staff, said that after he became part of policy stakeholders, he saw that the government needed continuous criticism and input from the public. In his view, public policies determine the quality of the relationship between citizens and the government.

Accountability

Separately, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati admitted that the government is facing a tough challenge, namely the accountability of the use of Covid-19 handling budget.

This year, the government allocated Rp695.2 trillion for Covid-19 handling in the health sector, social security and support for micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the business world, and regional governments. In general, budget absorption is facing operational and administrative constraints.

“The government will be facing the challenge of accountability of budget use one year from now,” she said in a teleconference held to discuss the challenges of economic solutions to deal with Covid-19, namely accountablity, flexibility, speed, and national economic recovery policy risks, Saturday (27/6).

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said that a new legal foundation is needed to deal with the extraordinary situation while keeping accountability and transparency a priority. Past trauma of being criminalized or becoming subject to investigation by the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia will strengthen governance. (hjtp)

Source:  Kompas daily, Monday, 29 June 2020 edition.

(lem)