The Strong Interest Of Property Entrepreneurs In The Birth Of PP Tapera In The Middle Of The Pandemic

Photo illustration (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - The public housing savings program (Tapera) has drawn criticism and rejection from various parties. This is because it is considered to be making it difficult for people in the midst of economic crisis conditions due to the impact of COVID-19 and uncertainty about when the economy will return to normal.

The presence of Government Regulation (PP) Number 25 of 2020 concerning Public Housing Savings also raises public suspicion that Tapera is here to cover the APBN deficit which is widening due to the outbreak of COVID-19. This is because this program is mandatory for all workers.

Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) economist Bhima Yudhistira said there were many interests behind the Tapera program. One of them is the interests of property entrepreneurs.

"What other interests besides closing the APBN? I have to look for data on whether there is no corporate property behind this. However, it seems that there are property players who want this housing sector to be a post-pandemic driven sector," he said in a video conference, Saturday, 20 June.

Bhima said one of the government's big narratives was that the Tapera program had to be supported and accelerated, so that this could be a stimulus in the housing sector. Because this construction can absorb a lot of labor and so on. However, learning from infrastructure development from the government, which was quite massive, did not absorb the workforce optimally.

Furthermore, Bhima said he was worried that the Tapera Program would be built without thinking about the readiness of the steel and iron industry in the country. Because, if not, there will be massive imports.

"Playing as long as it is built and all kinds of imported components will also get bigger. The more public housing that is built if it is not ready for domestic substitution, the more it will leak. The faster the flood of iron and steel imports becomes iron and the steel does not buy in BUMN, domestic companies but in fact we are increasingly importing from other countries, "he explained.

However, said Bhima, if the massive construction of public housing was not balanced with the readiness of the domestic industry, this would be very beneficial for importers.

"So the interesting theory is that people's houses are built but later the rupiah exchange rate will be battered. That could really happen if the government does not control the imported components. So there are many if as iron and steel importers are also happy with the existence of this Tapera," he said.

Not only that, Bhima also assessed that there is an interest from the appointed institution to accommodate the dues paid by workers.

"So there are a lot of interests here, including the interests of financial institutions that can't wait to accommodate trillions of Tapera funds. Want to be bothered with where and all kinds because there is a certain fee from the investment manager," he said.

Not a solution

As is well known, along with population growth driven by the birth rate and urbanization, the need for housing has increased dramatically. For low-income people (MBR), housing is a scourge in itself, let alone buying a house, the rental price is too expensive.

Due to this condition, the government then presented a public housing savings program (Tapera) which was considered to be a solution. This Tapera program was born several years ago but its implementation was only carried out in 2020 with the issuance of government regulation (PP) Number 25 of 2020 concerning Public Housing Savings, which is a derivative of law (UU) Number 4 of 2016.

Instead of being an MBR savior to get a house easily and cheaply, Tapera made it difficult for the community. Moreover, there is a huge gap between wage increases and property price increases.

"The government should, before talking about housing, the root of the problem that must be resolved. Because whenever they want to save money, 50 years of workers who are told to save will not be caught up. Because the main problem is related to land speculators," he said.

According to Bhima, it is this inequality that must be narrowed by the government first, not just collecting fees when people's income is reduced due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

"What must be considered is that the gap between the increase in wages and the increase in property prices must be minimized. This is not seen in the Tapera Law," he said.