Behind the Low Level of Public Participation in local Budget Management: A Piece of the Story of Budgeting in Indonesia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out the causes of the low level of public participation in managing local budgets, especially in the budget preparation process. To be able to uncover the causes of low public participation, this research was conducted in rural areas and urban areas in the Madiun region, East Java Province, Indonesia. This research is a qualitative research using phenomenological analysis, namely research conducted in certain settings in real (natural) life with the intention of investigating and understanding phenomena about: what happened, why it happened and how it happened. The results of the study found the causes of the low level of public participation due to: 1) the dominance of pro-authority groups during the deliberations on development plans, 2) the culture of rural communities who are “nerimoingpandum” who do not want to be involved in conflict and tend to accept what is, making them reluctant to be active and give proposals, while urban communities prefer to spend their time on their work, so they do not have the opportunity to participate in deliberations on development plans. 3) the lack of socialization regarding deliberations on development plans to the community. 4) There are efforts to suppress NGOs that are active in defending the public interest in participating in deliberations on development plans.