TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The plan to form a State Revenue Agency is again in discussion. There are political interests among those close to Prabowo Subianto.
PRESIDENT Prabowo Subianto once sent a message of hope concerning the management of state finances. Before he was sworn in as president, he announced the plan to form a State Revenue Agency, which can also be referred to as the Ministry of State Revenue. The major goal was to separate the Directorate General of Taxes as well as the Directorate General of Customs and Excise from the Ministry of Finance.
The plan is actually worthy of support. With around 70,000 employees, the Finance Ministry is among state institutions with the greatest number of workers. The Directorate General of Taxes alone has over 44,000 employees, which makes control mechanisms difficult to operate.
The second argument for creating the agency was the ministry’s conflicting scopes: to receive and spend budgets. Management theories state that such conflicting functions cause organizations to operate less than optimally. Separating the Directorate General of Taxes and the Directorate General of Customs can potentially boost state revenue. The problem is, although the plan is included under the 2025-2029 National Mid-Term Development Plan, published in February 2025, the arrangement has evaporated.
In early June 2025, the plan to form a State Revenue Agency (abbreviated as BPN) reemerged. To avoid confusion with the National Land Agency, also abbreviated as BPN, the agency would instead be named the State Revenue Authority. It was retired Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin—Minister of Defense and Prabowo’s close friend since their Military Academy days in the early 1970s—who motored the move. They believed that the new agency could be established early next year at the latest. The trigger was a statement made by Edi Slamet Irianto, a member of the State Revenue Agency Formation Team coordinated by Sjafrie.
But the plan seemed to fade after it was denied by State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, who argued that the Finance Ministry has a new pair assigned to manage revenues, namely, Director-General of Taxes Bimo Wijayanto as well as Director-General of Customs Djaka Budi Utama. Both are Prabowo’s trusted men. Taxes contributed 82 percent of state revenue in 2024, while customs and excise contributed 10 percent.
The State Revenue Agency push and pull goes to show that President Prabowo is only practicing his function of controlling political power (ruling), not governing. The focus of his work is limited to control of power and does not include administration and public policy. As a ruler, he deals with instructions. As to how the goals of these instructions are achieved, that is up to his cronies. Prabowo instead opts to discuss other affairs.
Because those close to Prabowo have their own interests, a political struggle has developed. A minister’s rejection of the plan to form a State Revenue Agency motored by another minister is proof that the agenda is more motivated by political factors than public interest.
It is evident that the agenda is not being supported by meticulous planning. For example, there is no roadmap for forming the new agency. There is only mention that the State Revenue Agency is meant to improve the tax ratio by 5-6 percent in five years.
The trouble is, in this country, every newly formed or restructured institution takes a long time before it can function normally. Meanwhile, the state budget allocated to employee salaries is already increased in its first year. After all, such plans involve strategic positions for government officials. Everyone is busy maneuvering to secure their position.
If a situation like this one day causes tax revenue to plummet and disrupts the state budget, who will be responsible?
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