Heru Budi To Anies: Please Compete In The Pilkada, But Don't Blacklist Me

Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta, Heru Budi Hartono (VOI/Diah Ayu Wardani).

JAKARTA - The Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta, Heru Budi Hartono, asked the former Governor of DKI Jakarta, Anies Baswedan, not to make him a scapegoat in seeking public support to run again in the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada.

This was expressed by Heru in response to Anies' statement that the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is currently stingy and limits the distribution of aid related to the welfare of its citizens.

"Please compete in the Pilkada, but don't blame me," said Heru when met at Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta, Saturday, July 20, 2024, evening WIB.

Heru Budi claims that he has not stopped the social assistance program that has been running since the era of Anies' leadership in Jakarta. Instead, Heru admitted that he corrected the data on beneficiaries so that they were more targeted.

"There is no activity for the community, I will stop it. Nothing. I run everything, but I tidy it up according to the existing rules," said Heru.

Heru gave an example of the distribution of KJP Plus educational assistance which was late for disbursement in stage 1 of 2024 because the DKI Provincial Government re-verified existing KJP recipients.

As a result, there were thousands of students who were dropped from KJP recipients because they were considered to have come from a capable family so they did not deserve the education fund assistance.

"We tidy up the KJP (based on) the existing rules. I didn't cut the KJP, did there be students who were rich get KJP? Not really. There is a BPK, there is a BPKP, I tidy everything up according to the existing rules," said the Head of the Presidential Secretariat.

Previously, Anies admitted that he intends to run again as a candidate for the Governor of DKI because he wants to make the condition of Jakarta and its governance as when he was governor for the 2017-2022 period.

"We want that atmosphere back, we want the atmosphere of the provincial government to be loving to its citizens."

"The provincial government sees the people like you and their own children, not the provincial government who is stingy with its citizens, not the provincial government that limits the benefits received by its citizens," said Anies, Saturday, July 20, 2024.

"Therefore, we will make sure to return all the benefits that were cut. For what reason? Because it must be able to provide benefits to the people here," he said.