Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar, also known as Cak Imin or Gus Imin, as Chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) proposed an increase in village funds from the previous IDR 1 billion (US$ 67,622) to IDR 5 billion annually.
Cak Imin argued that the increase is needed to push for equal development of rural areas and small villages.
Cak Imin argued that village development is the key indicators of development success and priorities. “Today we are rebuilding commitments with village heads [village heads] and the community, village development as the center of national development. If village development is successful, then national development is successful,” said Iskandar.
Iskandar explained that the focus of this development included increasing human resources (HR), infrastructure, technology, and equitable education. Cak Imin mentioned that the success development of villages could be achieved through state funding facilities so that all areas rural areas are connected.
Iskandar is optimistic that village development can become a new center of economic growth through rural digitization. “Our focus is on healthy and smart villagers. So, healthy villages and smart villages are two programs that we must run and succeed in,” said Iskandar.
According to Iskandar, village funds needs to be increased because it is considered the right time to launch an Indonesian development program from villages. Cak Imin considered that the main pillar in village development is its human resources.
“We have made careful and thorough calculations regarding this. God willing, the amount of our state budget will be able to support the increase in village funds,” said Iskandar.
“Our APBN is sufficient to increase village funds five times. We are pushing the economy from below, development participation is from below, not from above,” Iskandar added.
So far, according to Iskandar, the village funds program for the pas six years have been extraordinary. However, initially there were suspicions that there would be fraud in the use of village funds. Even though it was declared successful, Iskandar admitted that there were still misuses of village funds, with very small amounts, and mistakes could be corrected.
