Disagree With The Proposal For Distribution Of Social Assistance Stopped During The 2024 General Election, Palace: This Is The Protection Of The Poor Family
JAKARTA - Presidential Special Staff Coordinator Ari Dwipayana responded to a proposal regarding the termination of the distribution of social assistance (bansos) during the 2024 General Election.According to Ari, the government is running a social assistance program because it thinks about the people, especially poor families who are facing difficult situations due to rising prices for basic materials."Because the main goal of social assistance is as a cushion or social protection so that the poor people or families are able to survive the pressure of rising food prices, as a result of El Nino and supply chain disruptions which have an impact on increasing global food prices," Ari said via a short message received in Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Thursday, January 4.Ari emphasized that social assistance is an affirmation program from the government for the people whose funds come from the APBN and have been mutually approved by the Government and the DPR."So, it has nothing to do with the election process," he added.Ari explained that social assistance is one of the policy instruments in poverty reduction strategies, by reducing the burden of spending on the poor. In addition to distributing social assistance, the government is also making efforts to increase the income of the poor through economic empowerment programs and reducing poverty pockets through programs to improve residential infrastructure, both in villages, rural areas, and urban areas."With this strategy, it is hoped that it can reduce the extreme poverty rate to zero percent by 2024," said Ari.He also ensured that the target for social assistance was clear, namely the Beneficiary Family (KPM), which came from data according to the name and address."The government continues to make improvements to the quality of implementation, improvements to program distribution to suppress the exclusion error, to ensure that the distribution of social assistance is right on target," he explained.The distribution of social assistance also involves various levels of government, from the center to the regions and village governments."The implementation in the field is also open to being monitored by various parties. In fact, the Government encourages program convergence so that various parties, including non-governmental circles, are involved in poverty reduction programs," said Ari Dwipayana.Previously, the Ganjar-Mahfud National Winning Team (TPN) had received criticism from the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming National Campaign Team (TKN) for proposing to postpone the distribution of social assistance during the 2024 General Election.Deputy Chairperson of TKN Prabowo-Gibran, Grace Natalie, said the proposal had a major impact on the poor."It's a pity if it delays. Maybe friends who talk don't feel the need for social assistance and depend on social assistance. However, if those who depend on and are postponed, the effect will really be felt. Don't, pity the community," said Grace.However, TPN Deputy for Legal Affairs Ganjar-Mahfud, Todung Mulya Lubis, denied proposing to stop the distribution of social assistance until the 2024 presidential election was completed."I want to emphasize firmly that TPN does not advocate for the termination or postponement of the provision of social assistance," said Todung.He emphasized that TPN Ganjar-Mahfud strongly agrees that social assistance must be continued because the people need it. Meanwhile, he did not deny that there was an opportunity for the social assistance program to be politicized to benefit certain pairs of candidates.In fact, social assistance is a program whose funds come from public money and the distribution is approved by the Government and the DPR RI.
"Let's be honest in distributing this social assistance fund," said Todung.