Indonesia's State Secretary: No issue adding budget for corruption prevention

Indonesia's State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi affirmed that the government is open to increasing the budget for law enforcement and oversight agencies if necessary to bolster the prevention of corruption in government programs. "If it becomes part of the consequence of strengthening oversight, we think there is no problem because it is better to increase the budget to prevent corruption," Hadi stated.

This stance follows President Joko Widodo's directive during a national consolidation meeting for the Free Nutrition Program (MBG). The President specifically called for strengthening the budget for the Attorney General's Office and other law enforcement bodies. Hadi clarified that this directive extends beyond the MBG program to all government initiatives funded by the state budget.

President Prabowo urged law enforcement agencies, including the Attorney General's Office, the National Police, the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), to optimize their oversight functions. "If strengthening is needed to be conveyed to the President, the spirit is that we are truly trying our best to fight this culture of corruption," Hadi added, quoting Prabowo.

Hadi further explained that government programs are already subject to oversight mechanisms. BPKP, as the internal auditor, routinely monitors processes within ministries and agencies. "BPKP is the internal financial auditor of the government, and all ministries and agencies routinely receive oversight of all ongoing processes within each agency," he said.