Perludem: Acting Regional Head’s Performance Has Not Taken Attention to the Needs of Marginalized Groups

The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) assesses that the performance of acting regional heads does not fully involve public participation; marginalized groups such as indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, and women victims of violence are still considered objects of policy, not subjects. This is based on the results of monitoring carried out by perludem with regional partners in 25 provinces led by acting regional heads. According to Perludem, this effort is important because the appointment process is not transparent.

“So community supervision is needed as a social control effort, as a form of public participation,” said Perludem Researcher Heroik Pratama at the event “Reflection on the Results of Monitoring the Performance and Neutrality of Acting Regional Heads in the 2024 Election” in the Cikini area, Central Jakarta (29/4).

Heroik explained that policy implementation in many provinces is still hampered by the commitment of regional governments (Pemda) and the lack of perspective from marginalized groups. This has an impact on policy implementation that does not meet the needs of marginalized groups. According to him, regional governments need to use the perspective of marginalized groups more in policy planning, considering that budget realization in almost all regions reaches 90% in accordance with planning documents.

“However, unfortunately, the implementation of policies has not been able to resolve the problems of marginalized groups. “The budget allocation for financing programs that have a direct impact is still minimal because more of the budget is allocated for spending on program preparation needs such as official travel and administrative spending,” he said.

Perludem also noted that the problem of meeting the needs of marginalized groups in policy implementation is the minimal budget and public involvement, the result of which is that quite a few programs to meet the needs of marginalized groups fail. In fact, ideally all programs require public involvement, including the use of technology in public services. However, Perludem assesses that the use of technology by regional governments is not yet aimed directly at serving the issues of marginalized groups.

“Our findings are that in several areas, the technology used, such as applications and official websites, has made things easier for people with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments,” said Heroik. []