Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka encouraged rural administrations to support national strategic programs during a meeting with the leadership of the Association of Indonesian Village Governments (Apdesi) at his palace in Jakarta on Friday.
At the meeting, he learned the aspirations and gathered input from village heads representing the association, according to a statement released the same day.
He highlighted that the central government expects rural administrations to play a strategic role in implementing President Prabowo Subianto’s priority initiatives, such as the Red and White Village Cooperatives program, the Sekolah Rakyat free education program, and the Free Nutritious Meals program.
He further underlined that developing Indonesia from villages is part of the President’s eight primary missions, collectively called the Asta Cita.
With that in mind, Gibran emphasized the government’s determination to bring progress to rural communities through empowerment initiatives and infrastructure development.
“His message was for us at the rural level to continue supporting development efforts and implementing government programs. He also asked us to convey this directive to those at lower levels,” chair of the Apdesi central executive board, Surta Wijaya, said after the meeting.
He informed that he and over 30 representatives from the executive board briefed the Vice President about the results of the association’s national working meeting, held on Friday morning.
The proposals discussed at the meeting included increasing the cap on village fund allocations for the operation of rural administrations from three to five percent.
Meanwhile, chair of the board’s advisory council, Asri Anas, said that Apdesi sought the central government’s support to address 10 key issues, including a request to lift the forest area status of around 22 thousand villages.
In response, VP Gibran assured Apdesi that he will study and follow up on the request.
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Translator: Fathur R, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Arie Novarina
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