What is more important is efficiency."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said inefficiency still existed in budget spending, because ministries and state institutions still worked out the same programs in the same areas.

"Examples (of budget in the same programs concern) the problems in information and technology (IT), procurement of ships and radars, and business assistance for micro, small and medium firms. Please pay attention to this," Jokowi said, while chairing a cabinet plenary session in Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Jokowi asked the ministers and heads of institutions to develop synergy, coordination and consolidation between the central government and the regional administrations in an effort to maintain work effectiveness.

At the central government level, the president asked the coordinating ministers to ensure the implementation of cross-ministerial and cross institutional programs between the central and the regional governments, so that they would be concertedly synchronized and would not overlap with each other.

"What is more important is efficiency," Jokowi told the ministers and heads of state institutions attending the plenary meeting.

The cabinet plenary meeting discussed topics on the governments work plan 2017, macro-economic framework and the outlines of the 2018 fiscal policies.

All the ministers and heads of institutions were also asked by the president to increase better public communications. "It should not happen that you are working from morning to morning but you do not develop good communications. The public do not know what you have done," Jokowi stated.

He noted that the ministers and heads of institutions should publicize the information and constraints they face, so that the people would provide inputs and feel they are part of the programs implemented by the government.

The president also asked the ministers to respond to any false information and rectify them with correct explanations.

"If there are mistakes published by the media, they should be rectified and corrected. Do not leave them unexplained," he added.

Jokowi stated that (false) information circulating in the public from various sources should be responded to speedily and should not be let to develop without clear explanations.

"All persons could become sources of information and could make their own news stories. There are many false news items and lies. They should be responded to speedily and should not be let to develop without a clear explanation," he added.
(Uu.A014/INE/KR-BSR/B003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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