www.astesj.com 193 Evaluation of Disadvantaged Regions in East Java Based-on the 33 Indicators of the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration Using the Ensemble ROCK (Robust Clustering Using Link) Method Luluk Wulandari, Yuniar Farida * , Aris Fanani, Nurissaidah Ulinnuha, Putroue Keumala Intan UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Mathematics Department, Surabaya, 60237, Indonesia A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Received: 01 July, 2020 Accepted: 14 August, 2020 Online: 10 September, 2020 East Java province is a large province in Indonesia, in which Surabaya is the second largest metropolitan city after Jakarta. Various problems of development inequality in East Java have caused East Java to be defined as a disadvantaged area in 2015. The determination of disadvantaged regions is carried out every 5 years using 6 criteria and 33 indicators that have been set by the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration. However, from several studies that have been conducted on the determination of disadvantaged regions, there is no research applies 33 indicators as a whole. So in this study, an evaluation of the determination of disadvantaged regions will be carried out using 33 indicators that have been determined by The Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration. Criteria data used are the results of the 2014 and 2018 surveys. These data are in the form of numerical data and categorical data. The method used is ensemble Robust Clustering Using Link (ROCK), which is a clustering method that can accommodate mixed data both categorical and numerical, using the concept of distance to measure the similarity or closeness between a pair of data points. The best cluster results for evaluating the determination of disadvantaged regions in 2020 consist of 4 clusters with the smallest Sw and Sb ratio of 0.3873984 and the optimum threshold value of 0.04. The results of the clustering, place Trenggalek, Bondowoso, Situbondo, Probolinggo, Tuban, Pamekasan, Sumenep, Bangkalan, and Sampang regions as disadvantaged regions in East Java. Keywords: Disadvantaged region Clustering of numeric data Clustering of cathegorical data Ensemble ROCK method The Ministry of Villages Development of Disadvantaged Regions Transmigration (Indonesian: Kementerian Desa, Pembangunan Daerah Tertinggal, dan Transmigrasi) 1. Introduction Based on the Presidential Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 131 the year 2015 concerning the Determination of Disadvantaged Regions in 2015-2019, East Java Province is one of the 21 Provinces that are lagging in Indonesia. Not only that, but East Java Province is also the only Province in Java which has several disadvantaged district or city. Therefore, a study needs to be carried out to evaluate various problems of development inequality that have left some regions in East Java behind. Government Regulation number 78 of the year 2014 article 6 paragraph 1 states that the determination of disadvantaged regions is carried out every 5 years based on criteria and indicators established by the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration. In this case, the last disadvantaged region was determined in 2015 listed in Presidential Regulation number 131 of the year 2015 and will be re-established in 2020. In this study, the criteria used are survey data in 2014 and 2018, which sources data were obtained from the Central Statistics Agency in the form of data on village potential, statistics on people's welfare and the profile of each province in a certain number of years. The data in 2014 are used as a comparison with government decisions related to the determination of disadvantaged regions in 2015. While the data in 2018 will be used as predictions for the determination of disadvantaged regions in 2020. The results of this study are expected to provide a relevant picture in which regions have the potential to be left behind in the future. Thus, the government of District/City can take policies towards their regions that are adjusted to the characteristics of each region to alleviate the region from being left behind. In practice, the government determines disadvantaged regions based on Presidential Regulation Number 131 the Year 2015 ASTESJ ISSN: 2415-6698 * Corresponding Author: Yuniar Farida, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia, +62 81252347261, yuniar_farida@uinsby.ac.id Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal Vol. 5, No. 5, 193-200 (2020) www.astesj.com https://dx.doi.org/10.25046/aj050524