Govt to hold ‘glamping’ retreat for regional heads amid…

The planned retreat has raised concerns over funding, however, as it will be held amid the ongoing budget efficiency for ministries, agencies and regional administrations to cut spending.

A total of 505 governors, regents, mayors and their deputies who won the 2024 regional head elections are expected to fly out this Thursday, immediately after taking their oaths of office, to join the “glamping” retreat at the Borobudur International Golf and Country Club, around 1.4 kilometers north of the National Military Academy in Magelang.

To finance the event, each regional administration was initially expected to allocate Rp 22 million (US$1,357) as mandated by a Home Ministry circular issued on Feb. 11, which also required this amount, which would cover participants’ accommodation and meals, be paid in advance to PT Lembah Tidar Indonesia.

But the ministry later backtracked and replaced this scheme in another circular on Feb. 13, saying it would use the ministerial budget to finance the estimated cost of Rp 11 billion for the retreat.

“This decision was made as part of the ministry’s responsibility as the supervisor and overseer of regional administrations,” Deputy Home Minister Bima Arya Sugiarto said on Thursday.

Read also: Costs of regional administration heads’ retreat borne by central government