"The existence of a regional autonomous government system provides greater space for regions to maneuver in innovation, creativity for their respective regions," he said at the “2022 Innovative Government Award (IGA)” event in Jakarta on Friday.
Moreover, given the direct regional head election (pilkada) system, regional innovations are a separate demand from the community, he said. This is because regional heads chosen by the community have the responsibility to serve and meet the needs of their citizens.
"These regional innovations are a demand from the community so that their regions can move quickly too, and this requires quick steps from regional heads to make breakthroughs, which are sometimes out of the box," he explained.
The minister further said that decentralization provides greater space for regions to make breakthroughs and offer the best services to their people. This is different from a top-to-bottom centralized system.
For instance, it was innovation that led to Indonesia being entrusted with the responsibility of hosting the G20 event, he added.
"This is proof that innovation can boost the Indonesian nation to leap even further," Karnavian said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday recognized innovative regions through the “2022 Innovative Government Award (IGA).”
The awards are expected to become a reference for the public in assessing the performance of regional leaders, the minister said.
Innovation is at the heart of bringing about changes in any aspect of life, he underlined earlier.
"Innovation is at the heart of making change. No community, state, nation, or society will be able to jump without innovation," Karnavian said.
As time progresses, there are external and internal factors that cannot be contained, such as globalization, the minister pointed out.
Every country must survive amid the competitive climate that is getting tougher, in addition to the development of information technology (IT), he added.
"That (IT) made the third wave of revolutionary change happen. Hence, Indonesia must also innovate in the international competitive climate," he stressed.
In terms of internal factors, he highlighted that since 1999, the Indonesian government is no longer centralized but has become decentralized by according greater autonomy to the regions.
In the era before implementing regional autonomy, he noted, the government was highly centralized, which did not provide a wide space for the region to innovate outside existing corridors.
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Translator: Boyke L, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Suharto
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