Palace: The Distribution Of Social Assistance Has Been Done By The President Since 2014

JAKARTA - The Presidential Special Staff Coordinator, Ari Dwipayana, stressed that President Joko Widodo had distributed aid to the public directly since 2014.

"The activity of distributing regular and non-regular social assistance has been carried out by the President since 2014, not something new," Ari said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, February 2.

Ari's statement answered reporters' questions about the reason the president has recently distributed aid more and more directly to the public.

According to Ari, Jokowi always distributes aid ranging from the Smart Indonesia Card, Healthy Indonesia Card, to the Family Hope Program (PKH) and People's Business Credit.

"So things that don't just share directly with the public, because the President wants to interact with the community, wants to know the problem and be close and greet the community," he said.

Regarding the distribution of social assistance, Ari said President Jokowi always involved the relevant ministers to assist.

When asked why the President did not invite Social Minister Tri Rismaharini in the distribution of social assistance recently, Ari said that the social assistance distributed by the President was rice related to the National Food Agency and Bulog.

"I explained yesterday that this is rice food assistance related to government reserves related to the duties and functions of the National Food Agency and Bulog," said Ari.