President Jokowi Orders Cabinet Ministers to Channel Social Assistances Immediately

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture delivers press statement after a Limited Meeting, Tuesday (19/5) (Photo: Oji/PR).

Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture (PMK) Muhadjir Effendy said that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had instructed him, Minister of Social Affairs, and Minister of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions to accelerate the distribution of social safety net assistance.

“We have examined 3 problems that must be resolved immediately. First is the availability of funds. The fund is currently in the Ministry of Social Affairs,” said Effendy when giving a statement after a Limited Meeting, Tuesday (19/5).

According to him, Minister of Social Affairs has sent the funds to PT. Pos Indonesia’s account, which will later distribute the funds directly to the beneficiaries.

The second problem is regarding the data. Effendy said that the Ministry of Social Affairs already has data for recipients of regular social assistances, however now they must distribute funds to additional  recipients outside those data.

“The additional data had been sent to the Ministry of Social Affairs and then will be used as a basis for distribution of funds, both regular funds in the form of Family Hope Program (PKH) and the additional Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT),” Effendy added.

According to him, 9 million beneficiary families will be added to the new social assistance programs, namely Social Cash Assistance and staple food assistance.

The third problem is delivery system. Effendy admitted that there is no more problem for the Village Direct Cash Assistance as the money is already in the village and can be channeled immediately.

Meanwhile regarding the distribution, the Coordinating Minister expressed hope that the fund can be received by the beneficiaries in full amount.

“For this matter, we will ask help from the Indonesian National Police to oversee the fund distribution especially at the village level,” he explained.

Minister of Social Affairs had set a target to distribute the assistance to 8.3 million out of 9 million targeted recipients at least on the day of Eid Al-Fitr.

“While the remaining 700 thousand social assistances will be channeled later considering the distribution areas are located far away from the cities, so the transportation needs more time. Moreover, the targeted areas may not have PT Post and banking network so it will need another 1 to 2 weeks,” the Coordinating Minister concluded. (MAY/EN)

Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Reviewed by: Yuyu Mulyani