The PDTT Minister's Response To The Confusion Of The Village Fund BLT Distribution Mechanism

The Minister for Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Villages, Abdul Halim Iskandar. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Villages for Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Kemendes PDTT) received criticism from the local government regarding direct cash assistance (BLT) for Village Funds. The trigger is the mechanism for channeling funds from the central government which is considered to be convoluted.

BLT Village Fund is assistance taken from village funds for residents who are classified as underprivileged and affected by the corona virus or COVID-19, either directly or indirectly.

Previously, the video of the East Bolaang Mongondow Regent (Boltim) Regent Sehan Salim Landjar was busy on social media, who had expressed his anger regarding the mechanism for distributing aid from the center to the poor in villages that was going on which was complicated.

Responding to this, PDTT Village Minister Abdul Halim Iskandar claimed to have communicated with the Regent of Boltim. He said, since the video was busy on social media, his party immediately tried to communicate with Sehan to find out what the problem was.

Abdul Halim admitted that he had cleared up the misunderstanding regarding Sehan's complaint about the PDTT Ministry's policies which were considered fluctuating. He emphasized that his party had never changed policy.

"We say that we have never changed the policy, what we have is adding. Indeed, initially, we did not change the Village Minister's regulation. We only issued a circular because it regulates two things," he said, during a virtual press conference with journalists in Jakarta, Monday, April 27th.

In addition, Abdul Halim explained, two things in the PDTT Ministry circular letter, namely, the matter of village cash labor and about the prevention and handling of COVID-19. According to him, these two points do not make changes to the Permendes because they have been regulated and accommodated in Permendes No.11 of 2019.

According to Abdul Halim, this circular letter is in accordance with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) 's direction that there is a new policy, namely that village funds can also be used to distribute BLT. Because of this, it has not been accommodated in the Permendes, so his party made amendments by issuing Ministerial Regulation Number 6 of 2020 concerning Permendes Number 11 of 2019.

Abdul Halim emphasized that what changed was only the regulations, not the policies. This is because a policy must have a clear legal basis for its implementation.

"Only that, (there is) a change in the legal umbrella. But nothing has changed in policy," he said.

For your information, the virtual world was enlivened by a video of the Regent of Bolaang Mongondow Timur (Boltim), North Sulawesi Province, Sehan Salim Landjar, who seemed unable to contain his emotions. In the video, the person concerned protests the mechanism for distributing BLT from the central government to the poor.

"Citizens may not get (assistance) because they received BLT. When was the BLT? Still opening this account again, this criterion. Various countries are already going bankrupt, ministers are still annoying all of them," he said, as in a video on Twitter. , Monday, April 27th.

Sehan's complaint, got a response from someone beside him. He then heard Ladjar's statement.

"BLT is not taken from village funds ?," asked the man in blue in the video.

Receiving this question, Landjar confirmed that the BLT did come from the Village Fund. However, what he complained about was that the process of giving BLT was not easy.

"Yes, from village funds, the process is long. For 4,700 residents, do banks in North Sulawesi have that many account books? Ministers are annoying," continued Sehan.

Then, Sehan continued. The regent, who was known to be vocal about his people, then questioned when the BLT would be disbursed. Because, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many poor people are waiting for this assistance.

"We are confused about how to share this with the people who got the BLT. Now the others have received it, the BLT is hungry. He is the poorest now. The money does not know when to come," he said.

"In fact, the ministers are better than the regents. I always say, don't generalize that it is as if the local government is just a foul. Just love discretion being guarded by the Police, KPK, NGOs, journalists," he continued.