Sumedang targets village development
October 2nd, 2007
Small towns in West Java suddenly have residents lining up wanting to become village head, because after autonomy was introduced, the top dog’s job started to look a little more attractive.
Prior to the region’s 2003 autonomy status, officials said people were reluctant to run the villages.
The line-up is thanks to a gradual improvement in the village head’s personal welfare, along with annual share in fund worth of between Rp 30 million and Rp 59 million, depending on village population.
The fund was developed to finance economic empowerment programs and to build infrastructure based on the needs of each village.
Village heads would also receive an additional Rp 5 million annually from West Java’s provincial budget, along with a motorcycle for transport.
Sumedang Regent Don Murdono said the program was devised to provide people with the right development programs for their villages.
The fund was also intended to empower individual villagers to actively participate in improving their own conditions.
“Regional autonomy is supposed to empower people,” said Don, who was elected regent in 2003 and will serve his term until 2008.
Apart from distributing the Village Development Fund (DPD), the program receives supporting funds and assistance from the District Development Program (PPK).
The program to develop villages has seen an increase in the number of villages across the regency.
Currently, the regency still has 26 districts but the number of villages has increased from 262 in 2003 to 270 villages today.
Don said the DPD program had helped stimulate participation and independence at the grass roots.
The administration has issued a regulation to supervise the funds and to prevent misappropriation by village officials.
Autonomy has also seen the development of various village organizations, including the Village Representative Body and the Village People’s Empowerment Council.
As part of the program, village officials are included in training days focused on administration, development and transparency.
Villagers are being taught how to better manage their land and their businesses, and they’re being taught about social welfare, education, healthcare and their rights as civilians.
The regency’s capital is Sumedang, some 45 km east of Bandung, and has more than 1 million residents.
It is the main town connecting northern coastal areas in Java with southern parts of West Java.
The town borders five other regencies including Indramayu, Garut, Bandung, Majalengka and Subang and is popular for its fried tofu and Cilembu sweet potato from Cilembu village.
Six tons of sweet potato are exported to Singapore, Japan and Taiwan every week.
Many Sumedang residents live in villages and the regency relies on natural resources.
It has a strong tourism arm and locals said they are proud of their traditional handicraft, forestry, farming and animal husbandry sectors.
Don said the regency’s village economy however relied heavily on agribusiness.
He said it has launched a modernization program for its administration and in 2003 implemented a financial transformation program for its regional accounting system.
“The implementation has gained recognition from the Home Affairs Ministry,” he said.
Sumedang is also considered to have one of the best financial accounting systems.
It regularly hosts officials conducting field study trips from other towns.
The regency has enforced efficient spending for government officials, focusing on finance and education.
Based on an autonomy study conducted by Yogyakarta State University recently, Sumedang has used around 50 percent of its General Allocation Fund (DAU) for its education sector.
The regency received Rp 551 million of the fund this year.
With various programs, the administration plans to improve the economy of its residents.
The regency now boasts economic growth of more than 4.5 percent annually, higher than 3.67 percent in 2003.
The completion of the town’s Jatigede dam construction — expected to water more than 100,000 hectares of rice fields threatened with failure during dry season — is much awaited.
And so too is the construction of the 52-km Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan (Cisumdawu) turnpike, which was in 2003 approved by the government.
However to-date there have been no serious expressions of interest, but the turnpike is intended to ease transport access to an international airport planned for Majalengka.
Source: Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Sumedang
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