Relations of Political Interest in Local Development

Budi Prasetyo

and Rizca Yunike Putri

Political Science Department, Unversitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Unversitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: political process, development planning, urban development planning

Abstract: The process of urban development planning not only weighs the economic and social problems that occur in

the city sphere, supported by statistical data, but subjects relations in the process of planning

implementation to scrutiny in the context of the process of planning arrangements. Preparation of

development planning involves not only the Regional Development Planning Board and the DPRD (Local

Parliament) but also involves elements of community groups, related bureaucracy and technocrats who have

both practical and scientific expertise in developing and providing problem-solving for urban areas.

Qualitative methods have been used, supported by the use of secondary literature that emphasises the

characteristics of a phenomenon that is studied more specifically to be able to draw a conclusion about the

political process and development planning in the city of Mojokerto. The results of this study provide an

overview of the implementation of development planning carried out by the city’s government and the role

and involvement of all subjects in the process of preparation.

1 INTRODUCTION

The National Development Planning System is a

single set of development planning procedures to

produce development plans in the long term,

medium term, and annually carried out by state

administrators and communities at the Central and

Regional levels. In contrast, development according

to Neo Structuralism is a planned and structured

development that aims to fight for social conditions

to alleviate poverty embedded in the social strategy

of development that is still oriented to the structural

social context that must find balanced development

in various circles.

Competition among actors in the policy process

is a study that began to develop especially since the

authoritarian regime passed. Public policy is now an

arena of interest competition and political efforts in

the struggle for ideology through practical action.

This policy network emphasises policy changes as a

result of a change of preference or belief in some of

the most critical policy actors (Halligan, Horrigan,

and Nicoll 2012).

In policy practice, policy networks and concepts

related to sub-government and policy communities

have been the main and dominant analysis tools

often used in studying public policy (Arze,

Martinez-vazquez, and Mcnab 2016). A number of

studies have focused on policy networks to study the

process of setting agendas and to examine incidents

occurring in processes and policy changes over a

period of time, revealing that they can be marked by

coalition formation, conflicts and changes in the

belief system in a sub- specific policy system

(Cadman 2012).

The policy network is particularly useful in

political systems with federal and non-federal

structures that seek to avoid the centralisation of

political control by national political elites. Sabatier

(Cairney 2016) develops an advocacy coalition

framework model.

The public policy network consists of a large

number of participants with variable levels who are

somewhat reciprocal or highly dependent on others

in their own environment (Cairney 2016). It is

important to point out here that the two models are

not different from either the targets of the policy

network continuum, nor the type of ideas found in

the real world. This view is in line with Richardson

who reveals that there is no conceptual reason why

certain problems of the public policy formulation

Prasetyo, B. and Putri, R.

Relations of Political Interest in Local Development.

DOI: 10.5220/0008817501070112

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs (ICoCSPA 2018), pages 107-112

ISBN: 978-989-758-393-3

107

process do not necessarily correspond to a number

of different stage models (Boelens and Roo 2016).

Atkinson and Coleman explain that the concept

of network policy is as a network that is equipped

with a sufficient number of tools to fight various

obstacles to State autonomy (Mccann 2017). This is

indicated by the assertion that, even though it may

be in a centralised political mechanism, the policy-

making process is structurally decentralised (Grant,

Taylor, and Wheeler 2017).

Dowding (Lapenta, Fattore, and Dubois 2016)

notes that a number of policy networks may appear

to be full of powers whose targets can be served by

the government through various existing programs

which, in fact, are gained through systematic luck.

The critical point of such a view is that if the

dominant ideology legitimises the interests of a

particular group as a national interest, then those

group interests may be raised and ultimately escape

certain representations made by the government

(Barkin 2017).

Law Number 25 Year 2004 regarding the

National Development Planning System is one of the

law products whose purpose is to realise equitable

and democratic development which is implemented

in stages and continuously. The National

Development Planning System is a set of

development planning procedures to produce long-

term (RPJP), medium-term (RPJM) and annual

(RPT) development plans implemented by the state

and community organisers at the Central and

Regional levels, while Development according to the

Neo Structuralist is a planned and structured

development that aims to fight for social conditions

to alleviate poverty that is embedded in the social

strategy of development that is still oriented to the

structural social context that must find balanced

development in various circles.

Figure 1: Linkage between RPJMN (UU SPPN) and other

Planning Documents (UU 17 Year 2003 on State Finance)

Source:DirectiveforImplementationNo.3/JUKLAK/SESME

N/06/2014onProcedures for the Formulation of the

National Medium-Term Development Plan of 2015-2019

DATED 26 June 2014

The Long-Term Development Plan of the

Regions still refers to the top-down National Long-

Term Development Plan with the Government

acting as a service provider to the community as the

main source of administrative and budgetary

capacity, while the bottom-up combination at the

time of the Musrenbang is highly relevant to Neo

Structuralist theory which regards the community as

an object in the development planning.

There are general and specific planning and

budgeting constraints. Common obstaclesare: 1)

weak coordination in the management of data and

information so that the target is not right; 2)

weakness of planning process link, budgeting

process and political process in translating planning

documents into budget documents; 3) lack of civil

society involvement; 4) weak system of monitoring,

evaluation and control (safeguarding); 5) weak

coordination between central government and local

government; 5) reliance on international funding

from donors and international agencies (Graaf and

Paanakker 2014).

The Regional Medium-Term Development Plan

is prepared by taking into account the internal and

external conditions of the region summarised in

strategic issues through the analysis of Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT).

The Regional Medium-Term Development Plan is

prepared with the stakeholders based on their

respective roles and authorities.

The process of preparation of the Regional

Medium-Term Development Plan is full of the

interests of actors who have a role in the process.

The identification of the actor includes at least

political actors, bureaucratic actors, technocratic

actors and community actors including interest

groups and NGOs. The involvement or interaction

between actors is a necessity because the process of

preparing the development plan documents requires

coordination among actors and the participation of

all development actors through a forum called the

Development Planning Council or Musrenbang. The

agenda is not only a routine planning agenda

involving politicians and bureaucrats, but also other

stakeholders such as communities, technocrats and

various subjects and objects influenced by

development planning.

The process of developing regional medium-term

development plans is evidently full of the interests

of actors who have a role in the process.

Identification of these actors includes at least

ICoCSPA 2018 - International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs

108

political actors, bureaucratic actors, technocratic

actors, community actors including the interests of

non-governmental organisations. This was

accommodated in the concept of social development

with social justice, and the involvement of these

actors included the adoption of Neo Structural

Development Theory in the SPPN Law which can be

seen from the planning process. In particular, this

included:

 Political Approach: the election of the

President / Regional Head results in a public

choice theory of planning, specifically the

elaboration of Vision and Mission in the long-

term national and regional development plans.

 Technocratic process: using scientific thinking

methods and frameworks by institutions or

work units that are functionally assigned to it.

 Participatory approaches: implemented by

involving all stakeholders, such as through the

Development Planning Consultation (locally

known as Musrenbang).

 Top-down and bottom-up processes:

implemented according to the level of

government

The involvement or interaction between these

actors is a necessity because the process of preparing

the development plan document requires

coordination between actors and the participation of

all development actors, through a forum called the

Development Planning Meeting or Musrenbang. The

agenda is not only a routine planning agenda that

involves politicians and bureaucrats alone, but also

other stakeholders such as society, technocrats and

various subjects and objects influenced by

development planning.

2 RESEARCH METHODS

This study uses qualitative methods by emphasising

the uniqueness of a phenomenon that is studied more

specifically to be able to construct conclusions based

on the characteristics of the object under study,

namely the special characteristics of the phenomena

that arise at the time of the preparation of medium-

term development planning in the district/city. The

area that is the scope of the Research on Local Elite

and Regional Development Relation Interests

includes politicians, technocrats, bureaucrats and

communities in development planning in regencies /

cities which are government institutions, regional

level DPRDs (DPRD) of regencies / cities and

related work guidelines in districts / cities (SKPD).

To achieve the aims and objectives of the

research, a variety of secondary and primary

information is needed in qualitative and quantitative

forms, both oral and written (documented). These

data include current conditions, as well as central

and regional government policies in districts / cities.

Primary data needed in this study will be obtained

through interviews and discussions, both formal and

informal. Documentative data (secondary data) will

be obtained from various relevant agencies, namely,

related regulations, related SKPD and internet sites.

The method that will be used to obtain the data

above is in-depth interviews and observations. To

collect secondary data, a literature study of the

documentation is carried out, namely to review data

that has been documented by relevant institutions.

3. DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

3.1 Actor's Relation of Interest in

Medium-Term Development

Planning

The Medium-Term Plan is a five-year development

document for a district/city or province compiled by

actors as stakeholders based on their respective roles

and authorities. It integrates spatial plans with

development plans.

The actors involved in the formulation can be

divided into two groups: the acting actors and the

unofficial actors. Included among the official actors

is, and the government here is an official actor, the

bureaucracy that strives for the interests of the

continuity of linear development planning with

achievement in previous years. This bureaucracy

consists of the ranks of Regional Device

Organisations coordinated by Bappeda as the

leading sector of development planning. Secondly,

politicians who struggle for development in their

constituency/constituency areas are thus very

corrective of the balance of resource allocation

planning in their region.

Meanwhile unofficial actors are, first and

foremost, communities that participate in the

struggle for their local interests and work hard to

influence development planning processes and

mechanisms by utilising various official channels

such as Musrenbang as well as political lobbies

against their people's representatives. Secondly, the

technocratic power that seeks to encourage the

professional implementation of development

planning is accountable and in certain cases

Relations of Political Interest in Local Development

109

scientific. In addition to college, this technokratis

also includes groups or professional associations that

are widely accessible within the community.

Formally, the role of the actor in this official role

is more prominent because it holds formal

legitimacy at every stage of public policy formation.

But, in reality, the field of involvement of actors

who play an unofficial role, is often more decisive

and, in real terms, the realisation is that the actors

play an official role only as a tool for the actors who

play an unofficial role. The interaction between

actors in real terms in policy analysis is the focus of

this research.

The community is also one of the actors in the

public policy process having a decisive role in

addition to other actors, such as the government, that

is formally legitimate in the process of public policy

evaluation. In the process of influencing the policy

through the government, the people can make

demands or otherwise provide support to ensure

their interests are represented in the public policy

that will be formulated. The process of bargaining

for interest takes place inside the conversion box

where inputs both in the form of support and public

demands and macro governmental considerations are

negotiated to become an output in the form of public

policy. It is true that people may have bargaining

positions or may not be visible in terms of the public

policy character that is generated whether

responsive, paternalist or authoritarian.

The process of interaction and negotiation

between actors also illustrates the running of the

policy network in the preparation of the Medium-

Term Development Plan.

3.2 Relationship in Determining Local

Financial Performance

The annual budget of the region, which is a follow-

up and simultaneously a manifestation of local

financial management, is determined every year by

regional regulation, consisting of income,

expenditure and financing. The regional annual

budget is prepared based on the Short-Term

Regional Development Plan in order to realise the

achievement of the government's objectives. In the

preparation of the regional annual budget, this is

done by using a performance budgeting approach

(performance budgeting or activity base).

The development of local government financial

performance is inseparable from the limitation of

regional financial management as regulated in: (1) of

Law Number 32 Year 2004 and Law Number 33

Year 2004 regarding Financial Balance Between the

Government and Local Government; (2)

Government Regulation Number 58 Year 2005

regarding Regional Financial Management; (3)

Permendagri Number 13 Year 2006 juncto Ministry

of Home Affairs Regulation Number 59 of 2007

concerning Amendment to Permendagri Number 13

Year 2006 concerning Guidelines on Regional

Financial Management.

Based on these provisions, the financial

performance of the Regional Government is closely

related to the performance aspect of APBD

implementation and the aspect of the condition of

the regional balance sheet. The performance of the

APBD is closely related to the structure and

accuracy of expenditures (direct expenditure and

indirect expenditures) of regional revenues which

include local own revenues (PAD), equity funds and

other legitimate revenues. The regional balance

sheet will reflect the development of the condition of

the Regional Government's assets, the condition of

the obligations of the Regional Government as well

as the condition of available equity funds.

3.3 Relations in Determining Medium

Term Development Plans

This Medium-Term Development Plan is a concern

for truly important development issues. Strategic

issues are conditions or things that must be

considered or put forward in regional development

planning because of their significant impact on

regions with important, fundamental or urgent

characteristics, and in determining the objectives of

local governance; the strategic development issues

are formulated based on the problems of regional

development, the challenge and the potential future

regional development, covering the physical-

environmental, socio-cultural, economic-financial

and legal-institutional aspects.

The strategic issue represents one of the

enrichments of external environmental analysis of

the planning process. If the external dynamics,

especially over the next 5 (five) years are well

identified, local governments will be able to

maintain/improve service to the community. Local

governments that do not align themselves equally on

their strategic issues will face potential failures in

implementing governmental affairs that are their

responsibility, or fail to carry out regional

development. Strategic issues are conditions or

things that must be considered or put forward in

development planning because of the impact that is

significant for future entities (regions/communities).

A condition/event that becomes a strategic issue is a

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110

situation which, if not anticipated, will lead to

greater losses or otherwise, in the case of not being

utilised, will restrict opportunities to improve the

welfare of society in the long term. Characteristics

of a strategic issue are conditions or things that are

important, basic, long-term, urgent, which

develop/organize and determine the goals in the

future. Therefore, to obtain the formulation of

strategic issues, it is necessary to analyse the facts

and information that have been identified for

selection as strategic issues. For more successful

regions to create information systems for regional

development planning, then regular efforts must be

made to monitor the opportunities and threats of the

external environment. Therefore, the policy of Local

Government is no longer reactive but more

anticipative. Without it, many important

opportunities will be lost, with unidentified or

anticipated threats.

4. CONCLUSION

The process of orientation and interaction of actors

is a process of negotiation between stakeholders that

describes the negotiation mechanism that occurs

between actors and describes the course of the

policy network in the preparation of the RPJMD.

The process of interaction between actors in the

preparation of RPJMD is described conceptually as

involving policy stakeholders. The process of

interaction between actors in the preparation of the

RPJMD is conceptually described as involving a

policy stakeholder; that can include the following:

 Actors’ / stakeholders’ policies consisting of

Bureaucracy, politicians, technocrats and the

community;

 The RPJMD is prepared with clear

instructions from the Minister of Home

Affairs;

 Stakeholders make it possible to carry out a

bargaining mechanism for resources between

them;

 The process of drafting the RPJMD within a

certain period of time is sufficient to carry out

the bargaining process among actors;

 The bargaining process allows the coalition

between actors to dominate the results of the

RPJMD formulation policy, and

 Community actors are primarily actors who

have the least access to the policy process

while bureaucratic and political actors are

dominating actors and technocrats tend to

maintain balance between actors and the

quality of policy formulation.

Orientation and interaction of actors in policy

formulation found interesting phenomena that are

not part of this research and interesting to be studied

further. This phenomenon is how the policy

formulation process is able to analyze the linkages

between policy actors with the involvement of actors

who are vertically above them such as provinces and

nationally and regionally around their research areas.

The process of actor orientation and interaction

is a process of negotiation between stakeholders that

describes the negotiation mechanism that occurs

between the actors and describes the running of the

policy network in preparing the Regional Medium

Term Development Plan. The process of interaction

between actors in the preparation of the Regional

Medium-Term Development Plan is described

conceptually as policy stakeholders.

Policy recommendations based on the orientation

and interaction among actors mentioned above, and

referring to the analysis of internal and external

problems above, then within the framework of

development The research area of the next five years

there are several strategic issues that need to be

recommended. First in terms of public services,

which is an attempt to meet the needs or interests of

the general public in accordance with prevailing

norms and rules. Secondly, economic problems are

related to the ability and competitiveness of product

development and economic performance among the

surrounding areas, as well as overcoming the

problem of poverty which is a crucial problem.

Third, the food security of the main problem is the

limitation of agricultural land owned by a very

narrow research area. Fourth, the performance of

public services as core bussines from the

Government is an absolute measure of achievement

given to the community. Fifth, infrastructure is a

sector that plays an important role in supporting the

priority sectors of education, health and purchasing

power. Sixth, environment and disaster, in handling

flood and puddle still needed improvement of

program effectiveness and community participation.

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