Authors: Ana Sopanah, Made Sudarma, Unti Ludigdo, Ali Djamhuri
Page: 65
This paper reveals that public participation in local government budgeting can be practiced fully by the people, and not merely a ceremonial process as shown by earlier literature on such processes. Prior research has focused on the district level and found that participation in local government budgeting is still assumed to be merely a formality, done as part of a required ceremony to fulfil certain local government obligations. However, at the micro-community level, this paper shows that public participation is truly holistic, and practiced beyond mere ceremonial formalities. This research was of the Tenggeresse people, an aboriginal community at Bromo Mountain, East Java, Indonesia. An interpretive paradigm with an ethnomethodology approach was employed to reveal the existence of local values of Tenggeresse when participating in local budgeting; centring around being peaceful and looking after the welfare of others. These values of local wisdom are internalised in the planning, implementation and transparent responsibility aspects of public participation in local government budgeting.
