20,000-Record Gap: Bogor Council Urges Local Data for Social Aid Distribution

BOGOR - Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD has asked the Bogor City Government (Pemkot) not to fully use the National Social Economic Single Data (DTSEN) as a reference for the distribution of social assistance (bansos) sourced from the APBD. The DPRD considers that this policy is necessary so that people who are truly entitled do not lose access to assistance due to data differences.

This emerged in a working meeting of Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD with the Bogor City Statistics Agency (BPS), the Social Service Agency (Dinsos), the Education Agency, the People's Welfare Section (Kesra), and the Health Agency in the Bogor City DPRD Commission IV Meeting Room, Wednesday, July 29.

The meeting focused on the evaluation of DTSEN after the implementation of ground checking to ensure that the distribution of social assistance was targeted.

The meeting was attended by the Chairman of Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD, Fajar Muhamad Nur, Deputy Chairman Asep Nadzarullah, Secretary of Commission IV Subhan, as well as other members of Commission IV, Mulyani and Dedi Mulyono.

Chairman of Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD, Fajar Muhamad Nur, said his party asked BPS for an explanation regarding the variables and triggering mechanisms that became the basis for the preparation of the DTSEN.

"Today we in Commission IV asked BPS for information regarding variables and disaggregation. Our recommendation is to reevaluate the assistance program financed by the APBD so that it does not refer entirely to the parameters of national census data, so that people's rights are not lost. This DTSEN evaluation still needs improvement based on real conditions in the field," said Fajar.

According to him, the Bogor City Government also needs to have a discretionary space during the data update process, which is estimated to last three to six months. Moreover, the local government has allocated a budget for the implementation of ground checking through the Social Service.

"The government needs to have a discretionary space so that people who are eligible to receive assistance are still accommodated even though the data update process is still ongoing," he said.

Fajar also appealed to the public who felt that their economic social data was not appropriate to use the update feature through the Cek Bansos application.

Similarly, Secretary of Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD, Subhan, asked BPS to open information regarding the parameters and weight of the desil assessment to the public. He also encouraged the Social Service to use Bogor City data as a reference in the distribution of regional social assistance.

"We ask that the parameters and weight of the assessment be explained to the public. In addition, we encourage the Social Service to use Bogor City data because there is a difference of about 20 thousand residents compared to national data. Don't let the people who are entitled not get help," said Subhan.

Member of Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD, Mulyani, also highlighted the difference in desil data between the national, provincial, and city levels. According to him, the city-level data more accurately reflects the real conditions of the community so that it needs to be prioritized.

"The difference of about 20 thousand data must be immediately corrected. We hope that data updates will be carried out periodically so that all residents who meet the criteria can enter DTSEN," said Mulyani.

Commission IV of the Bogor City DPRD emphasized that it would continue to monitor the improvement of DTSEN as well as encourage the synchronization of data between the central and regional governments so that the distribution of social assistance would be transparent, targeted, and equitable.

In response to this, BPS Bogor City Ferry Maurist explained that the change in the community's desil is dynamic because it is influenced by social and economic conditions as well as the ranking process in stages.

"Changes in districts can occur due to the improvement or decline in the socio-economic conditions of residents, as well as the results of ranking in stages from the national, provincial, to regional levels that mutually influence," explained Ferry.

He appreciated the input of the DPRD regarding the use of city-level data as one of the considerations in the distribution of regional social assistance.

Ferry also reminded the public to submit data updates through the Usul Sanggah feature on the Cek Bansos application if there are discrepancies.

"In the Cek Bansos application there is a feature called Usul Sanggah. Citizens can propose updating their data if they feel that the data is not appropriate, or object if there is a discrepancy in the social and economic conditions in the surrounding area," he concluded.