TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Deputy Speaker Syarief Hasan on Tuesday talked about Indonesia’s two major projects, which he deems an added burden towards the State Budget (APBN). The projects he refers to are the Jakarta - Bandung high-speed rail and the new capital city in Kalimantan.

“Our State Budget will face difficulties with the addition of the high speed railway and new capital city that will take up the State Budget,” Hasan wrote in a statement in the MPR official website on October 12.

He argues that the government should better prioritize its programs towards what the majority of the public need, which he says is in the form of a national economic recovery plan. “Not with megaprojects that cannot be felt by the lower income society that sucks up the State Budget.”

Apart from focusing on the government’s financial management, he mentioned Indonesia’s debt ratio that is currently logged at 41.64 percent and could potentially face default based on a report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

He also noted the contrasting difference between the President’s initial pledge to not utilize the State Budget to fund the high speed railway project and exclusively use a business-to-business scheme via SOEs.

The MPR Deputy Speaker believes the government should focus on critical and essential programs that can be directly felt by the majority of Indonesia’s population, especially amidst an ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“The State Budget should be focused on handling the pandemic, national economic recovery, opening new jo bs, and other essential programs,” said Hasan.

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