Villages are Indonesia's future.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Villages, Disadvantaged Regions Development, and Transmigration Minister Abdul Halim Iskandar (Gus Halim) in his speech at Yudharta University's graduation ceremony, urged Indonesian university students to dedicate themselves to the betterment of villages by working there.

"Villages are Indonesia's future," he noted as quoted from the press statement issued here on Monday.

On Sunday, he invited the 496 graduates from Yudharta University, Pasuruan, East Java, to participate in expediting the development of villages in Indonesia.

He believes huge potential exists in villages that if managed optimally by promising individuals, such as Yudharta University's graduates, could result in extraordinary acceleration of development.

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The minister noted that on the basis of his experiences of touring almost all provinces in Indonesia, he observed that advanced villages had two aspects in common.

One of them was the fact that their village chief was still young or had received higher education and even a doctorate degree.

"They also massively contributed to the development of their villages," he added.

To this end, Gus Halim called for the graduates to not be blinded by the city life, as there is potential to serve in villages.

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Currently, the village fund budget allotted from the state budget to villages reached Rp72 trillion, he noted.

In fact, funds totaling Rp200 trillion had been distributed to villages across Indonesia from various sources, he elaborated.

"This means that serious handling is required," he stated.

If the fund distributed to villages is not handled by professional human resources, then the villagers will be the ones suffering the most, Gus Halim noted.

"This is quite a heavy responsibility, but I believe that it can be handled by the right human resources," he affirmed.

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Translator: Sigit Pinardi, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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