Introductory Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia at the Limited Meeting on Evaluation of the Implementation of Rice Assistance and Cashless Food Vouchers at Bogor Presidential Palace, Bogor, 5 December 2017
Unofficial English Translation
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wwabarakatuh.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Rice assistance program covers more than 15 million beneficiaries. If one beneficiary represents four people, it means this program covers 60 million people. The budget is also big, Rp 21 trillion.
With this huge budget and impact, we have to make this program a priority. Do not waste our energy to small things with small impacts.
Since 2017, this program applies cashless system and trial has been conducted in 44 cities, involving 1.2 million beneficiaries. I ask not to add more beneficiaries for the time being. Please check and evaluate first so we are sure that this program goes well.
I would like to remind once again in March, there will be Social Survey of National Economy that become the foundation for poverty rate calculation. The Statistics Agency (BPS) will also ask whether the beneficiaries receive Rice Assistance for the last 4 months. Thus, there should be no delay. Next year, I expect all related insititutions, for example, Indonesia Logistics Bureau (Bulog), Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, and Coordinating Ministry of Human Development and Culture to coordinate so the assistance can be evenly distributed to all beneficiaries with no delay. (PR, Cabinet Secretariat) (MMB/YM/Naster)