There Is A Difference Of IDR 129 Billion From The Assistance Budget For Salary Workers Under IDR 5 Million, How Come?

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The government, through the Ministry of Manpower, will provide direct cash assistance (BLT) for salaries or wages of IDR 2.4 million for 15.7 workers or laborers who have wages below IDR 5 million. The total budget prepared reaches IDR 37.8 trillion.

In a meeting with the Minister of Manpower Ida Faziyah and the Managing Director of BP Jamsostek Agus Susanto, a member of Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Netty Prasetiani, questioned the difference between the total budget to be issued and the number of recipients of salary assistance from the government.

"If it is mentioned here, the subsidy budget that will be allocated or disbursed reaches Rp. 37,870,345,011,000, then the target will be given to 15,725,233 workers, by way of giving it in the form of Rp. 600 thousand per month, for four months, I counted it there. there is a difference, "he said, in a working meeting which was broadcast virtually, Wednesday, August 26.

According to Netty, if each worker received assistance worth IDR 600 thousand which was given for four months, the total assistance would be IDR 2.4 million. If this is multiplied by the target beneficiary of more than 15.7 million, the total budget is only IDR 37,740,556,800,000.

"So I calculated that there was a difference of Rp. 129,788,211,000 who did not have the owner or were not explained in this percentage. So, I want to ask, why? It's not just a number. But this is an ideological instrument to solve various problems and hopefully it will be able to. bring prosperity, "he said.

Moreover, said Netty, the community is currently experiencing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Supposedly, everyone has the right to get attention, assistance, reach from the government.

"So if then there is a figure that appears as much as Rp129 billion without a title, no owner and no mention, what are you going to do with this? I think this is a record," he said.

In line with other members who criticized the figure of 15.7 million aid recipients as not reflecting justice, Netty said, the difference between the figures from the total budget was also something that had to be explained transparently.

"So, if you criticized earlier that 15 million actually didn't show the principle of justice, I also want to criticize this figure," he said.

In addition, Netty also questioned, with a target of more than 15.7 million prospective recipients and the disbursement time is getting closer, how the validation process will be carried out by BP Jamsostek.

"If I may ask, what is the strategy to avoid fraud? If the social assistance with 8 schemes yesterday was problematic, even though it has been carried out in layers from RT, RW, Kades, all of them have already verified, maybe there is fictitious data like that. . Or later there is also an account that can be used to accommodate, "he asked.

Netty said, during the current pandemic, all parties must be responsible for preventing potential moral hazard. Moreover, he said, if you look at the financial notes submitted, Indonesia will get the budget from debt. So, state officials must have a commitment to escort every rupiah spent handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So it means that if we then make a program, I want to emphasize, it should be this principle of justice that frames the program rolled out by the government. Don't let it happen that instead we feel that we are making a program, but it creates disparities, creates gaps," he said.