Social Assistance Is Considered To Be The Right Solution To Light People's Economic Loads

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The government's policy of distributing additional social assistance as a form of diverting fuel oil subsidies to the Indonesian people worth Rp. 24.17 trillion is considered very good because it eases the people's economic burden. "The social assistance is very good and useful, but it is necessary to review the plan to increase fuel prices and it should not be increased first," said a member of Commission IV of the Maluku DPRD, Andi Munaswir in Ambon, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, August 31. According to him, there are a number of reasons that can be taken into consideration by the government in increasing fuel prices such as the COVID-19 pandemic and high inflation rates. "We hope that the plan to increase fuel can be reviewed by the central government, because currently Indonesia has not fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, plus inflation is quite high," he said. The year-on-year inflation rate (year on year) is 4.94 percent, then the economic recession is still felt, then if you add it again with an increase in fuel prices, the prices of goods in the market will definitely soar. "Additional social assistance as a form of diverting fuel subsidies by Rp. 600,000 per person is very good because it can ease the burden on the people, but the increase in goods prices as a result of rising fuel prices also affects people's purchasing power," he said. Secretary of Commission II of the Maluku Provincial DPRD, Ruslan Hurasan, asked the government's attention to further tighten the fuel distribution or distribution monitoring system so that people do not find it difficult to obtain fuel easily. He said the option to increase the price of subsidized fuel types of pertalite and diesel for now is not the right choice because the impact of the 2019 pandemic is still being felt and the high inflation value is annual. "Solar and pertalite are the types of fuel that are most needed by the community, especially the lower middle class, so the government should suspend plans for an increase in price and focus more on increasing supervision," he said.