Sri Mulyani's Special Staff Member Responds to MPR's Tantrum

jpnn.com, JAKARTA - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani's special staff member for strategic communications, Yustinus Prastowo, has commented on the heated relations between Sri and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) leadership.

Previously, MPR deputy chairperson Fadel Muhammad asked Jokowi to remove Sri, arguing she was unethical and had underestimated the MPR. The assembly's chairman, Bambang Soesatyo, also chimed in.

Yustinus revealed several things from Sri's side, as he formulated in a release received by JPNN.com on Wednesday (1/12).

According to Yustinus, Sri received an invitation to a meeting with the MPR twice, including the one in July 27, 2021. However, Sri also got invited to an internal presidential meeting, so the meeting with MPR was represented by the deputy minister.

On September 28, 2021, Sri had a meeting with the House of Representatives to discuss the state budget, so the meeting with the MPR was postponed.

As Indonesia faces a surge in Covid-19 due to the Delta variant, all ministries and state agencies must refocus their budgets to assist the handling of Covid-19 due to the very high cost of patient care (with an increase from Rp 63.51 trillion to Rp 96.86 trillion), acceleration of vaccination (Rp 47.6 trillion), and the implementation of PPKM in various regions.

The budgets are also refocused on helping the poor by increasing social assistance, helping workers' wage subsidies, and helping MSMEs. (mcr20/jpnn)

This news has been broadcast on JPNN.com with the title: 3 Penjelasan dari Kubu Sri Mulyani, Pimpinan MPR Sebaiknya Baca, Ada Soal Anggaran