Puan Maharani Criticizes Jokowi's Ranks To Local Government: It's Useless To Limit Mobility, If It's For The Stomach Of The People, It's Perfunctory

JAKARTA - Chairman of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, asked the government to ensure that aid for the people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic actually reaches those who are entitled.

"It's useless to have various policies and even restrictions on people's mobility if the programs in the field are carried out in a perfunctory manner, especially those related to the people's stomach", said Puan Maharani, quoted by Antara, Thursday, July 22.

She highlighted the statement of the Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani Indrawat, on Wednesday, July 21 which said that social assistance for villages was mostly held back by local governments.

Based on data from the Minister of Finance, the aid that should have been able to reach 8 million families in the village for 12 months, has only been distributed to 5.2 million families.

Of the total ceiling of IDR 11.51 trillion, only IDR 983 billion has been disbursed for the realization of aid for the villagers. And from all provinces and city districts, only 21 local governments have been recorded to have distributed assistance to villages with the realization of more than 50 percent of the allocation until July 2021.

"How do you want to build people's trust if the implementation in the field is like that", said Puan.

Puan reminded that the handling of health problems related to COVID-19 is indeed a determinant for all groups to be able to move again, including in the economic sphere.

She assessed that for the handling of COVID-19 in the health line to run optimally, limitation of mobility is an important step while waiting for vaccination to reach 70 percent of the population.

"However, at the same time, people, most of whom do not have financial flexibility for their daily lives, must also be guaranteed their lives", she said.

Therefore, according to Puan, all assistance that has been designed as part of the policy for handling COVID-19 should be a priority for all levels of the government to deliver the right target and the right momentum.

Puan emphasized that all groups are chasing time to immediately overcome the COVID-19 pandemic so that all can return to their activities and be productive.