Minister Of Home Affairs: Digitalization Of Social Assistance Is Important For The Sake Of Right Target Distribution

Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian in the Socialization of the Digitalization Piloting of Social Assistance at the National Level which took place at the Head Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), Jakarta. (ANTARA/HO-Kemendagri)

JAKARTA - Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian emphasized the importance of digitizing social assistance so that the distribution is more targeted, effective, and efficient.

He said that digitizing social assistance is a strategic government agenda to ensure vulnerable groups and underprivileged people get their rights appropriately.

"We know that social issues, social assistance, one is the duty of the state, as well as our constitution to regulate to protect the poor, displaced people, and others," said the Minister of Home Affairs as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, December 4.

This was conveyed in the Socialization of the Digitalization of Social Assistance at the National Level which took place at the Head Office of the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri), Jakarta, Thursday.

The Minister of Home Affairs explained that Law (UU) Number 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government regulates social affairs as one of the six basic service mandatory affairs that must be the priority of regional heads. So far, the central government and local governments (Pemda) have distributed various social assistance programs.

However, said the Minister of Home Affairs, the distribution still faces a number of obstacles, ranging from the inaccuracy of the target to the dynamics of the recipient data.

He gave an example of a case of beneficiaries who had changed addresses, changed economic status, or died but were still listed as recipients.

"Some were previously unemployed, then now they have become members of the TNI, Polri, ASN, some had their homes in area A, then they changed addresses to area B, that's the data moving," he said.

Therefore, continued the Minister of Home Affairs, President Prabowo Subianto assigned the Chairman of the National Economic Council Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan to accelerate the digitization of social assistance.

One of the important moments is the launch of a social assistance digitization pilot project in Banyuwangi Regency. The program, which involves various ministries and institutions, including the Directorate General (Ditjen) of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, is considered successful.

He explained that the Directorate General of Dukcapil had recorded 99 percent of Indonesia's population with complete biometric data such as fingerprints, eye slices, and facial recognition. This feature ensures that there are no duplications for beneficiaries.

This Dukcapil data is also the basis for the preparation of the National Sole Social Economic Data (DTSEN) which is coordinated by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and involves the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

"Well, then the DTSEN data has been used, implemented, for social assistance programs carried out by digitalizing with the intention of being effective, on target, and also being efficient," he said.