BLITAR – The Blitar city government has proposed assigning only one PPPK officer to each Merah Putih Cooperative (KMP) as officials try to avoid staff shortages within the municipal administration.
The proposal emerged after the central government issued a joint circular requiring regional administrations to prepare contract-based civil servants, known as PPPK, to support cooperative operations at the village and subdistrict levels.
Blitar officials said they are still reviewing the staffing scheme because the policy could reduce the number of employees available inside local government offices.
Acting Head of the Blitar City Personnel and Human Resources Agency (BKPSDM), Ika Hadi Wijaya, confirmed that the administration had received the joint circular from the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the National Civil Service Agency.
“Yes, we have received the circular related to the policy,” Ika said on Monday.
Under the regulation, local governments may assign up to three PPPK officers to each cooperative unit. Blitar City currently has 21 Merah Putih Cooperatives spread across its urban villages.
If the city followed the maximum quota, officials would need to prepare dozens of PPPK personnel for cooperative assignments.
“If we follow the maximum provision, we would need to prepare around 36 PPPK officers. However, we tried to negotiate because placing that many employees would automatically reduce staffing inside the city administration,” Ika explained.
According to her, the concern has become more serious because many municipal employees are approaching retirement age, especially administrative staff members.
“We must stay realistic because many staff-level employees will retire soon,” she added.
To address the issue, the Blitar administration proposed limiting placements to one PPPK officer for each cooperative. Officials believe the smaller allocation would still support cooperative operations without heavily affecting public services inside government offices.
“We have already conveyed the proposal to the ministry. Our proposal is one PPPK officer for each village cooperative, not three employees for every cooperative,” Ika said.
The government has not yet finalized technical details regarding the duties or positions of PPPK officers assigned to the cooperatives. However, the circular states that eligible personnel must hold at least a diploma degree, or D-3 qualification.
“Employees with educational qualifications below a D-3 diploma cannot be assigned to the KMP program,” she said.
The staffing discussion reflects broader concerns among regional governments about balancing central government policies with local workforce limitations. Officials in Blitar continue collecting employee data while waiting for further instructions from Jakarta regarding the final implementation process.