Revised Village Law at crossroads
The government and the House of Representatives have formally completed the revision of the Village Law, which had been strongly demanded by village elites across the country, but its effectiveness in improving the welfare of villages and their peoples will remain to be seen.
On April 25, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo signed into law the second amendment to the Village Law, the deliberation of which began in June last year.
The previous 2014 Village Law is already considered successful in improving the welfare and development of poor villages in Indonesia as it has seen a rise in the Developing Village Index, developed based on three categories of social resilience, economy and environment, in the period 2019 to 2021.
In 2021, the index showed that the number of very poor villages decreased by 2.05 percent and poor villages decreased by 15.32 percent. On the other hand, the number of advanced and resilient villages increased by 22.55 percent and advanced villages also increased by 4.29 percent.
Despite this, the demand for a revision of the law was raised, and the revision process in parliament was marked by several demonstrations by village leaders and elites from across the country. They were adamant that the amendment was urgently needed to ensure that village administrations had a strong legal basis to properly serve their people.
In the end, no faction in the House objected to the ratification of the amendment, and the law was passed unanimously.
Among other issues in the new Village Law that have attracted public attention is the term of office for village heads, which has been changed from six years, renewable up to three times, to eight years, renewable twice.
The revised law also takes into account the new system of post-employment benefits and health insurance for village leaders and elites, including members of the village legislative body, whose exact number will be determined according to the capacity of village funds.1 2
These new arrangements are in line with the demands of village elites, who reportedly lacked financial support from the government to carry out their daily tasks.3
Several stakeholders rejected the idea of amending the Village Law, as it was seen as highly politically motivated and susceptible to political deal-making due to the proximity to the election period.4 5
These groups also stated that the revision should have been administered by the new administration and legislative line-ups to avoid political motives and ensure objectivity in the legislative process.
Nevertheless, the bargaining power of the village leaders to push through the amendment was relatively high, as these lawmakers needed the village leaders to mobilize the masses to help them win reelection, which was made possible due to the extensive powers of the village leaders in their respective jurisdictions.
The new arrangements in the revised law will see a greater amount of village funds allocated by the central government to enable development through the hands of village authorities, which could potentially lead to more corruption practices, experts predict.6
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) ensures that it closely supervises and monitors the use of village funds to prevent misuse and corruption among village authorities, as required by the Village Law.7
Government officials familiar with the revision of the Village Law said the amendments were a reward from the government to village leaders after the 2024 general election. According to these officials, village chiefs played a key role in mobilizing the masses to support the Prabowo-Gibran ticket. A source said many of them had been forced to support the government or else face criminal charges for misusing village funds.
A member of the House of Representatives recalled that the revision of the Village Law hung in the balance before voting day on Feb. 14. The House leadership had initially planned to postpone the deliberation until after the election. However, the discussions kicked off earlier amid concerns from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) that voters in rural areas would shift their allegiance to other parties if the revision had not begun.
The ratification of the Village Law revision was inseparable from the maneuvering of several village apparatus organizations that had previously declared their support for Prabowo. A lawmaker said that as a result of mounting pressure from the village leaders, the House leadership asked the House Legislation Body (Baleg) to conclude the deliberation on the law's revision.
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