The health sector has a very important role to provide good services to the community."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, a member of the House of Representatives Commission-IX overseeing demographic affairs, health, manpower, and transmigration, has called on the government to not trim the health budget.

"The health sector has a very important role to provide good services to the community. Therefore, the government should not cut the budget for this sector," Baskoro noted in a press statement on Wednesday.

The son of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he understood the steps taken by the government to cut spending in ministries and state institutions due to budget constraints, but it should not be trimmed for the health sector.

In addition, Commission I Deputy Chairman T.B. Hasanuddin has urged the government to not cut the defense budget as the Ministry of Defense has several priority programs.

"Commission I hopes the government will not trim the defense ministrys/militarys budget as it has to implement many priority programs," Hasanuddin remarked here on Tuesday.

Hasanuddin, who is a politician of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, affirmed that the defense budget will be used to finance security operations, particularly sea and air patrols, which of late need to be conducted urgently.

The patrols are needed to maintain the states sovereignty, particularly in the border areas.

"The government, in this case the finance ministry, needs to give attention to the three reasons," the lawmaker emphasized.

The government has planned to cut its expenditure by Rp133 trillion in the 2016 revised state budget as the state revenues are forecast to not meet the set target.

Earlier, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati had forecast that tax revenues would fall Rp219 trillion short of the target, and the deficit had the potential to hinder budget performance.

As a result, the ministry has proposed a cut of some Rp65 trillion in spending for ministries and state agencies and some Rp68 trillion in fund transfers to regions.
(Uu.O001/INE/KR-BSR/O001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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