Prabowo-Gibran Program Regarding Elderly KIS To The Eternal Islamic Boarding School Fund, Sri Mulyani Speaks Up

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: dock. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) responded to the program of the presidential and vice presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, namely the Healthy Indonesia Card (KIS) for the elderly and the Eternal Islamic Boarding School Fund.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the two programs already exist and have been stated in the 2024 State Budget.

"Just look at the 2024 State Budget, it has been knocked. Regarding what programs, maybe I don't call it populist, but the one who divides the community. That has been stipulated in the State Budget Law," Sri Mulyani said at the Press Conference of our State Budget, Wednesday, October 25.

Sri Mulyani said that the program was already in the use of the social protection budget (perlinsos) of Rp487 trillion, namely for the Family Hope Program (PKH), the Smart Indonesia Card (KIP) Lecture, to subsidies for fuel oil (BBM).

"Umpaknya anggaran perlinsos di 2024 kalau tidak salah Rp487 triliun. Jadi nanti program seperti PKH, kartu sembako, PIP, KIP Lecture, bantuan PBI untuk masyarakat tidak mampu termasuk lansia, bantuan subsidi listrik, subsidi energi, BBM, subsidi LPG, itu masih semuanya ada. Dana perdanahan juga disampaikan kita sudah punya dana perdence yang saat ini," ucapnya.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Budget at the Ministry of Finance Isa Rachmatarwata said that special health programs for the elderly have actually been accommodated in the current KIS program which is intended for all levels of age from toddlers to the elderly. That way, the program is deemed unnecessary.

According to Isa, the elderly who came from poor families have also been covered in the list of recipients of the Family Hope Program (PKH) aka integrated social welfare data (DTKS).

Isa added that those classified as elderly were unable to be automatically registered as recipients of BPJS Health contribution (PBI) assistance.

"If later there are still those that have not been covered and so on, it is actually an improvement in the data collection that we (the government) will do. But we should be sufficient with the current program (KIS)," he said.

Meanwhile, regarding the pesantren endowment fund program, the Head of the Financial Education and Training Agency of the Ministry of Finance Andin Hadiyanto said that the pesantren's endowment funds were already part of the program of the education endowment fund.

Andin explained that the current education endowment fund is IDR 106.1 trillion. In addition, the total remaining endowment funds which are also managed by the Education Fund Management Institution (LPDP) are worth IDR 134.1 trillion. Meanwhile, specifically for pesantren, spending in 2023 will reach IDR 250 billion.

"The management of the program itself is managed by the Ministry of Religion, so later the LPDP will finance it. The process is ongoing, currently there are selections," he explained.

Andin explained that the funds issued by the government aim to increase the capacity of santri and santri coaches, such as scholarship preparation programs, multimedia pesantren, strengthening fatwa taking, and others.

Previously, Gibran conveyed several flagship programs such as the Elderly Healthy Indonesia Card (KIS), millennial startup credit and pesantren endowment funds which are mandated by Law Number 18 of 2019.

This was conveyed by Gibran during a speech ahead of his registration with Prabowo Subianto as a vice presidential candidate to the General Election Commission (KPU) at the Indonesia Arena, GBK, Jakarta, Wednesday, October 25.