<![CDATA[Indonesia's decentralisation system embodies a fundamental tension between the political legitimacy conferred upon directly elected local leaders and the centralised oversight exercised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, a tension that remains inadequately addressed within the existing legal framework. This study aims to examine the legal limits of the Ministry's authority to supervise local officials, using the administrative sanction imposed on the Regent of Indramayu as a case study. Employing a normative legal research method with statutory and conceptual approaches, the study analyses how supervisory authority is acquired and exercised under Law No. 23 of 2014 on Regional Government. The findings reveal that although local leaders derive strong democratic legitimacy from direct elections, they remain constitutionally bound by the unitary state structure, and the Ministry's imposition of corrective administrative sanctions constitutes a lawful exercise of oversight; however, non-punitive "soft governance" measures such as compulsory mentoring or internships must strictly observe the principles of proportionality and legality to avoid excessive interference in local self-governance. The study concludes that future legislative reform must clearly delineate the boundaries of administrative pressure so that supervision functions as an instrument of institutional development rather than political control. This research contributes to legal scholarship by offering a normative framework for distinguishing legitimate administrative oversight from politically motivated intervention, thereby enriching the discourse on decentralisation and central–local government relations in Indonesia.]]>
