Legal Literacy - Every government policy should be based on the mandate of the constitution, not just short-term budget calculations. However, in practice, the excuse of "efficiency" is used as a tool to cut budgets in essential sectors such as education and health. As a result, the fundamental rights of the people guaranteed in Article 31 and Article 34 of the 1945 Constitution are violated by the state itself. The state, which should be responsible for educating the nation and caring for the poor, is instead destroying the main foundations of people's welfare.

 More ironically, this cut occurs amid increasing state spending for other interests that often do not directly impact people's welfare. When education and health—two main pillars of national development—are seen as a budget burden that must be reduced, then the state is essentially digging its own grave.

Efficiency Policies That Contradict the Constitution

 The state is not only negligent in carrying out its obligations, but actively makes decisions that harm the rights of the people. Article 31 Paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution explicitly states that the education budget must be allocated at least 20% of the APBN and APBD, while Article 34 Paragraph (3) of the 1945 Constitution affirms that the state is responsible for providing health facilities for the people.

 However, when the budget for these two sectors is reduced, the question is: does the government really want to build this nation, or does it allow its people to remain in ignorance and health deterioration? Logically, how can we talk about national progress if the people are not healthy and uneducated?

Impact of Budget Cuts: The State Fails to Protect Its Citizens

1. Deteriorating Education, Dark Future

 Cutting education funds is not just a technical problem, but a systematic neglect of the nation's decline. Schools lack facilities, the quality of teaching decreases, and more and more children cannot access quality education. This cut not only closes the door to the future for the younger generation, but also reinforces the social inequality that is already entrenched.

2. Health Sacrificed, People Suffer

When the health budget is cut, who is most affected? Not those who can afford expensive health services, but the poor who should be protected by the state. Article 34 Paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution clearly states that the state is obliged to care for the poor, but in reality, they are increasingly difficult to access decent health services.

 Ironically, the state is worsening the situation by limiting BPJS services, raising drug prices, and reducing health subsidies. This is not just neglect, but an action that directly plunges people into suffering.

3. Teachers and Medical Personnel: Pillars of the Nation That Are Sidelined

 Teachers and health workers are the backbone of the nation. However, budget cut policies are making them even worse off. Low salaries, minimal facilities, and lack of support from the state make many teachers and medical personnel lose their enthusiasm. How can we expect to get a superior generation and a healthy society if those who are in charge of educating and caring for the people are not appreciated?

Manipulation of the Efficiency Narrative: The State Chooses Other Interests Over the Rights of the People

 What is more painful is that these cuts in education and health budgets occur when the budget for flagship projects, official expenses, and bureaucratic spending continues to increase. When the state sacrifices the basic rights of the people under the guise of efficiency, but on the other hand still allocates large funds for other interests that do not directly touch the people, then this is no longer a technical budget problem—this is a betrayal of the constitution.

 If efficiency is really needed, why are the education and health sectors being cut? Why not the budget for bureaucracy which is often ineffective? Why not the budget for projects that are more symbolic than functional? This policy is not about efficiency, but about the state's failure to determine priorities.

Conclusion: The State Is Failing, and the People Are Bearing the Consequences

Cutting education and health budgets is not just a wrong policy, but real evidence that the state has failed to carry out the mandate of the constitution. The state, which should educate the nation, instead allows its people to remain in ignorance. The state, which should care for the poor, is increasingly limiting their access to decent health services.

If the government continues to argue that these cuts are being made for fiscal sustainability, then we must ask: sustainability for whom? If efficiency is done by sacrificing the basic rights of the people, then it is not efficiency, but a systematic neglect of the rights of the people.

A developed nation is one that places education and health as top priorities, not as a burden on the budget that can be sacrificed. If the government truly wants to build the nation's future, then there is no other way than to allocate a decent budget for these two sectors. If not, then the government has not only failed, but has also betrayed the mandate of the constitution and the ideals of the nation's founders.