Golkar Official: Strengthen Regional Independence with Natural Resource Revenue Sharing

Abdul Rahman Farisi, Secretary of the Economic Policy Division of the Golkar Party's Central Executive Board, has called for increased focus on the revenue sharing fund (DBH) for regions that are major producers of natural resources. He believes that the push from Golkar's Chairman, Bahlil Lahadalia, for the Golkar Faction in the House of Representatives to pay attention to the DBH for these regions presents an opportunity to ensure that areas contributing significantly to state revenue receive proportional benefits.

Farisi stressed that the DBH for natural resource-rich regions should serve as an instrument of fiscal justice and a capital for developing regional economic independence. "DBH should not merely be seen as a routine transfer from the center to the regions. DBH must be an instrument of fiscal justice and capital for building regional economic independence," he stated. He noted that many resource-rich regions complain that despite their large contributions to state revenue, the economic benefits experienced by local communities are not always commensurate.

To address this, Farisi advocates for directing DBH towards financing strategic needs such as infrastructure, education, health, connectivity, and the development of new economic sectors. "It should not be the case that DBH is exhausted by routine spending. Natural resource wealth must be transformed into long-term investments so that when natural resources dwindle, the regions still have sources of economic growth," he explained. He also proposed strengthening earmarking policies to specifically allocate a portion of DBH to strategic sectors, preventing regional dependence on natural resource revenues.

Farisi concluded that the success of DBH is measured not by the amount of funds transferred, but by how effectively these funds improve community welfare and foster regional economic independence. He added that this attention to DBH also reinforces the Golkar Party's commitment to regions producing natural resources, asserting that these areas must be a vital part of national development. Golkar aims to ensure that natural wealth not only generates state revenue but also leaves a legacy of quality human resources, robust infrastructure, and independent regional economies.