Community Participation and Utilization of Local Wisdom in Development Planning in the Border Area of North Central Timor Regency

Abstract

Border areas between countries have the opportunity to be developed in various fields of development and the central government is very supportive by providing programs and budgets through ministries/institutions. However, in reality, local governments in border areas have not fully utilized this opportunity to build more advanced border areas. More than two decades of East Timor separated from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia and the land border between the countries was legally formed in North Central Timor Regency. The construction of border gates and cross-border aspects is the authority of the central government, but building on the border is the responsibility of the local government, so the North Central Timor Regency government should pay close attention through systematic, measurable, and realistic regional development planning.  Regional development planning is a process and mechanism for formulating long-term, medium-term, and short-term plans in a region that are linked to regional conditions, aspirations, and potential by involving community participation to support national development. (Wrihatnolo and Nugroho; 2006). In Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 8 of 2008 Chapter I Article 1 It is stated that regional development planning is a process of compiling stages of activities that involve various stakeholder elements. in it, to utilize and allocate existing resources to improve social welfare in a regional/area environment within a certain period. This research aims to explain and analyze development planning in the border area of the North Central Timor district, based on aspects of community participation and local wisdom. This research was conducted using a qualitative approach, the data was analyzed descriptively with the interactive model of Miles and Huberman, and the research informants numbered 31 people. The results of this study indicate that through development planning in the border region, the North Central Timor district government has produced regional development planning documents. However, there are still inconsistencies and a lack of correlation between documents and they tend not to be substantive in portraying development problems in the border area so development programs are found to be repetitive, not innovative, there is a tendency to neglect and throw away responsibility for development in the border area. This is caused by; (1) The community being less involved in regional development planning, (2) the Local wisdom of the community has not been utilized properly at certain stages in regional development planning. There are supporting factors such as regulatory products that provide space for the district government to plan regional development more optimally and a strong commitment from the North Central Timor Bapelitbangda. But there are also inhibiting factors such as (1) Minimal development budget; (2) Coordination (3) Planner capacity (4). There are policy changes. For this reason, it is necessary to increase the capacity of planner resources, involve the community in certain stages of regional development planning, and utilize traditional leaders and Tolas traditions for the utilization of resources and development space in the future. The North Central Timor Regency Government needs to be more proactive in obtaining the APBN budget through the Ministry/institution and improve coordination between OPDs and stakeholders in minimizing the tendency for sector egos and overlapping programs. For this reason, an inclusive method of regional development planning is needed that is appropriate for border areas with special characteristics.