Reality In The Field, Government Social Assistance Is Not Right On Target, It Is True

Illustration. (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

JAKARTA - During the corona virus pandemic or COVID-19, one of the policies that can help the community is social assistance (Bansos). However, unfortunately the assistance that can be directly felt by the community is not evenly distributed and tends not to be on target.

The government's decision to implement a large-scale social restriction (PSBB) system, work from home, and stay at home made community movement more difficult. Economic activity stopped. Those who had to be dismissed and lost their livelihoods as a result of this policy, were in fact left untouched by the social safety net program whose budget reached Rp110 trillion.

The VOI team had the opportunity to meet Ivan, who works as an online motorcycle taxi (ojol) driver. When he was met, Ivan said that the basic needs assistance from the central government did not reach him. Likewise with assistance from the Provincial Government (Pemprov) of DKI Jakarta.

Ivan said that due to the implementation of the PSBB, his income decreased. Because, online motorcycle taxis are no longer allowed to operate to accompany people. Not only that, Ivan also admitted that he had difficulty paying the rent for a place to stay and was eventually kicked out because he was in arrears for five months.

"Five months have not paid. My family and I ended up staying at my parents' house. Because I can't go back to the rented house if I haven't paid for it. There is also no assistance from the government for groceries," he told VOI, in Jakarta, Saturday, May 9.

Not only that, Ivan admitted, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-wheeled vehicle he bought had to be mortgaged again to cover the hemorrhoid surgery he suffered.

"Three months before COVID-19 should have been paid off. But because I had to operate, the money that should have been for other needs was used to pay for credit," he explained.

Ivan lives at Wisma Ciliwung, South Jakarta. The building where Ivan lived used to be a pilgrim hostel, but the manager rented it out to be a place to live. The price for renting a room with a small size and plywood wall is IDR 500 thousand.

Small community illustration. (Angga Nugraha / VOI)

"Because of the difficult conditions like this, I am looking for various ways. Report to the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) as well. I am also on the Pre-employment Card list. Because as far as I know there is cash assistance of IDR 600 thousand. For me this is very troublesome, but because the government wants this, just follow it, "he said.

Contacted separately, a ripe side dish seller in the Ancol area, Rosmiati, admitted that her income continued to decline every day after the government issued the PSBB and work from home policy.

Rosmiati explained, before the pandemic, he had worked at the Pertamina (shipping) canteen in Tanjung Priok for a fee of IDR 100,000 per day. However, on March 15 all BUMN offices including Pertamina were closed. He was forced to stop and return to selling side dishes around.

"I returned to selling around but the turnover from day to day is decreasing. I try to survive but not improve, it continues to decline drastically, especially since many roads have been closed. Especially since the PSBB was implemented, sales have continued to lose and capital has been depleted," said Rosmiati.

On April 12, Rosmiati stopped selling because she continued to lose money. Because many customers choose to save money by cooking at home themselves because of the current difficult conditions.

"I am confused, the rent for the house and water has not been paid for for two months, electricity uses tokens, I buy as little as Rp. 20,000 per purchase. There was hope when the government would provide assistance, but in reality I cannot," he said.

According to Rosmiati, to get assistance from both the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government and the central government, he had submitted important documents as a condition. Until now, the aid has not arrived.

"I have submitted a copy of the KK and KTP via RT on April 13th. But I haven't got it. The day before Ramadan I got groceries from people who told me to cook at their house," he explained.

Furthermore, Rosmiati revealed that due to the local RT policy, she finally received assistance from the government. However, one basic food package, which should be allocated for one household, must be divided between three households. On April 30, aid arrived but did not come from the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government but from the North Jakarta Metro Police.

"I hope that the DKI Regional Government will fulfill its promise to the affected people. But seeing the messy data I am pessimistic. Hopefully I can pass this disaster safely, physically and mentally healthy,"

Side dish trader, Rosmiati

Central Government Admits Distribution of Social Assistance is Messy

The Ministry of Social Affairs is in the public spotlight in the midst of this corona virus pandemic or COVID-19. This is because there are many complaints from people who have not been touched by social assistance (bansos). In fact, the budget for social safety net or social safety net issued by the State Budget is IDR 110 trillion.

Social Minister Juliari Batubara said, under abnormal conditions like today, the government must move quickly to meet the needs of the community. However, he admitted, the data collection of potential beneficiaries was not yet fully on target.

"I even said, I prefer (social assistance to go down) quickly now rather than right. Why? If it is not right, it can be resolved and I can prove it myself. Instead of being busy verifying, re-validating data to ensure that the target of COVID-19 has been completed, the new social assistance down, "he said, in a working meeting with Commission VIII together with the Minister of Pembangungan Village for Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration virtually, Wednesday, May 6.

According to Juliari, at a time like this, the government, in this case the Ministry of Social Affairs, had to choose one. So, the decision to be taken is to distribute social assistance quickly, so that the community can be immediately helped.

"Neither can be both very fast and very precise. I think it is impossible. We are not a country that has sophisticated data infrastructure," he said.

Juliari said, the Ministry of Social Affairs received full data from the social service. According to him, there is no other data source used by the Ministry of Social Affairs in determining the recipients of social assistance.

"The Ministry of Social Affairs will accept it and will not check again. Why? Because we do not have time. This is only three months of this program. If our time is only spent on checking into the field, the COVID is over, the assistance has not yet arrived,"

Minister of Social Affairs Juliari Batubara

Overlapping Goals

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani admitted that there were overlapping targets in the distribution of social assistance funds in a number of programs run by the government to support the poor affected by the pandemic.

However, according to Sri, it is much better than if they did not get any support in a difficult time like today.

"Many are asking whether there is an overlapping possibility? There is a possibility. But it is probably better, than not," he said, during a virtual press conference in Jakarta, Friday, May 8.

Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

Furthermore, Sri Mulyani said that currently the government has distributed social assistance to the Jabodetabek and non-Jabodetabek communities amounting to 55 percent of the total Indonesian population.

"We have covered more than close to 55 to 59 percent of the Indonesian population who have received social assistance. Whether in the form of groceries or BLT or on the basic food cards," he said.

It is necessary to involve independent institutions in data collection

Executive Director of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), Tauhid Ahmad, assessed that the overlapping assistance between the central government and the regions, as well as the inaccurate target of providing social assistance during this pandemic, was because the data used were not verified.

Moreover, he said, due to the pandemic the poor increased in number. Meanwhile, the data used is the Ministry of Social Affairs' base line in 2015 which was updated in 2016. Basically, the Ministry of Social Affairs asks regions to periodically update the data once every six months. However, the regions have constraints in this regard.

"Within four years, the people's economy has changed," he said, when contacted by VOI, Tuesday, May 12.

According to Tauhid, although this social safety net is only valid for three months, in the current crisis conditions it is still necessary to verify and validate the data of potential beneficiaries. Because, this is to avoid social conflict in the community.

"Verification remains an important part because one is to get assistance. Second, it can be a solution for the government to be present in the midst of society to overcome social conflicts that occur. Social problems cannot be fulfilled alone," he explained.

Furthermore, Tauhid admitted that he was worried that this unverified data could be used as a base line to provide Bansos in a crisis that might come in the following year.

"What if this continues for more than three months. In my opinion it still needs (verification) because I am afraid that later the data used when providing assistance without verification for the following year will inevitably become a huge error. It continues to be used as a base line, even though it is not verified. , danger, "he said.

Tauhid said, by carrying out verification, the government could find out which people had and had not received assistance. So, those who are entitled but have not been touched by government assistance can be helped.

According to Tauhid, for the first stage the distribution of Bansos is understandable if there is an overlap and is not on target. However, the government must make various efforts so that this does not happen in the next Bansos development period. Therefore, according to him, the government needs to involve an independent institution to collect data on Bansos recipients, in order to avoid distortion at the lower levels.

"If the instrument (data collection) is through instruments of government organizations through RT / RW without an independent person from BPS and so on, it is difficult. Because they are not experts or people who understand this kind of situation. Still there must be someone who best understands how to verify data, that's the problem, "he said.