Nirguna Policy Tapera: Obligation To Provide Citizens' Residential Responsibility Is The Government's Responsibility, Not The People

Officers serve people's housing savings (Tapera) participants at the Service Office of the Tapera Management Agency, Jakarta. (ANTARA/Bayu Pratama S/nym/pri)

JAKARTA The People's Housing Savings Contribution or Tapera is still a hot topic of conversation, especially after Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko emphasized that this contribution program will continue in 2027.

President Joko Widodo regulates the policy through Government Regulation (PP) Number 21 of 2024 concerning the Implementation of Tapera. This policy is flooded with rejection, not only among workers but also employers.

Chairman of the Indonesian Mining and Energy Industry Labor Union Morowali Industrial Park or SBIPE IMIP, Henry Foord Jebs, rejected this policy because it felt that there were no benefits for workers. He is also pessimistic that the contributions that come in for Tapera can later return to the workers' pockets.

"We suspect this is the government's way of closing the state budget deficit (state revenue and expenditure budget)", Henry said.

As long as the government does not intervene in land tenure, land prices, and the development of new areas, the hope of providing affordable housing is considered wishful thinking.

Since Jokowi signed the PP regarding Tapera last week, netizens have been busy rejecting this policy. The reason is, workers have to increase their deduction by 3 percent of their monthly salary to pay Tapera contributions. As much as 2.5 percent is paid by workers and the rest is paid by employers.

Whereas previously, employees had to pay the Judiciary Tax (PPh), BPJS Kesehatan, and BPJS Ketenagakerjaan.

The Tapera program aimed at financing affordable people's housing is considered impossible to provide. The part that is required by the government is that 3 percent cannot provide a house at a market price.

"It's rationale aggregated with a small cut value, it can have a house," said housing observer from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Jehansyah Siregar.

Jehansyah added, subsidized mortgages with a house price of Rp180 million can only be above land of no more than Rp250,000 per meter. Meanwhile, in the current era, it is quite difficult to find land at such a price. Even if there is, the location of the house is not affordable, aka far from the city.

"In Ciseeng (Bogor) alone, you can't get that price. So I think the location of this Tapera house will be further away. In Tangerang, you can go to Serang or Cilegon later, that's not a solution for affordable houses," he added.

Jehansyah also said that the government's sudden steps to formulate a housing financing scheme without intervening in land tenure, prices, and the development of new areas were useless.

In fact, if you want to imitate other countries that have similar regulations, the government first creates production by buying abandoned lands at low prices, then formulating spatial planning, including their housing.

When you already have a mature design, the next step is to strengthen public developers such as Perumnas in each region, and finally think about the right financing.

"Don't be a money quoter for the government. Just talk about housing, first give a quote quoting money, a new housing opportunity," he said.

Jehansyah continued, Tapera financing, which collects money from the public in the name of mutual cooperation, can be called fraud. Because, the obligation to provide houses for residents is the responsibility of the government, not the people.

This obligation is contained in Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, where the earth can be interpreted as land that was originally controlled by the state and used for the greatest prosperity of the people.

"So there is no term gotong royong, because we have done that by paying taxes," Jehansyah emphasized.

"If you quote it again, the name fraud. BPJS alone can also create a worker flat program, not corrupted and much better," he added.

On one occasion, BP Tapera Commissioner Heru Pudyo Nugroho explained, this program was intended to reduce the number of home ownership inequality or backlog which reportedly reached 9.95 million family members.

Budi explained, there are around 700,000 to 800,000 new families who do not have a house every year. Meanwhile, the government's ability to provide housing, according to him, is very limited. That is why Tapera is considered to be one of the ways to overcome this problem.

According to the Director General of Infrastructure Financing of the Ministry of PUPR Herry Triasaputra Zuna, Indonesia is not the only one who applies similar rules. He said several countries had Tapera-like programs first. In general, the international name for this program is known as a public warming service or social housing.

"There are many countries that have implemented it. The closest to Singapore, the Central Provident Fund, is mandatory. Then MalaysiaEmployes' Provident Fund is also a mandatory source of the same from the workforce and employers. In China there is a Waiting Provident Fund, and in South Korea there is a National Housing Fund, and there are many other countries," said Herry at the Press Conference of the Presidential Staff Office regarding Tapera in Jakarta, Friday (31/5).

Central Provident Fund (CDF) is the national security system in Singapore which was first implemented in 1968 and aims to help residents save for retirement. The amount of CPF's contribution to each head varies, depending on age, which ranges from 12.5 percent and 37 percent of people's monthly salary.

Through this scheme, it marks significant developments in Singapore's housing policy, which contributes to the high occupancy rate in the country and the financial security of its citizens.

In Malaysia, a policy similar to Tapera is called the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). From the official website of KWSP, it is known that this is one of the companies that manages the oldest deposits in the world because it was established in 1951.

Both workers and employers donate the percentage of workers' monthly salaries to EPF, whose contribution is determined by the government and based on the age of workers and population status.

Similar programs to Tapera are also implemented in China, namely the Housing Provident Fund (HPF) or housing supply funds. HPF is a long-term housing savings program, consisting of monthly mandatory savings by employers and workers. The collected savings funds can only be disbursed when workers are going to buy housing.