Ministry Of Home Affairs Strengthens Pinjol Supervision, Personal Data Spreader Will Be Legally Processed

Minister Of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian/ANTARA HO

JAKARTA - Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Muhammad Tito Karnavian emphasized the commitment of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) in strengthening supervision of illegal online loans (pinjol) and protecting people's personal data.

This was conveyed by Tito after the Ministerial Level Coordination Meeting on Illegal Online Loans.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs will be part of the regulatory evaluation team, because there was actually a task force team led by the OJK at that time and there were 16 institutions that entered, in government institutions including the Ministry of Home Affairs," Tito said in his statement quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, January 21.

Tito explained that the Ministry of Home Affairs will play a role in the preparation and evaluation of regulations related to loans with a main focus on socialization and prevention efforts at the regional government (Pemda) to villages levels.

"[We will] involve local governments [and] villages so that people can choose legitimate and non-legitimate online loans," he said.

In addition, he also highlighted the importance of protecting personal data as a crucial aspect in drafting regulations.

The Minister of Home Affairs explained that the loan system utilizes population data managed by the Directorate General (Ditjen) of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, namely the Population Identification Number (NIK) which has been integrated with biometric data, such as fingerprints, retinal eyes, and facial recognition.

"We have collaborated with approximately 6,000 non-governmental institutions, including financial institutions, fintech," explained Tito.

He emphasized that every partner institution of the Ministry of Home Affairs must comply with ISO 27000 data security standards. If there is a data leak, the responsible party will be subject to strict sanctions in accordance with Law (UU) Number 27 of 2022 concerning Personal Data Protection.

Tito said the sanctions would be given to all parties who leaked personal data, including loan providers who misuse client data for other purposes.

Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister (Menko) Kumham Imipas Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi) had taken legal steps and preventive efforts to deal with illegal loans.

One of them, by blocking the website belonging to a loan company that does not have an official permit.

"So what the public must know later is that there are only 97 [pinjol] who have obtained permits to operate legally, the others are illegal," continued Yusril.

He also appealed to the public to immediately report to law enforcement officials, especially the police, if they become victims or receive threats due to illegal online loans.