Puan Maharani: PPKM Has Been A Month, Assistance For Employees Cannot Be Delayed!

Speaker of the House of Representatives Puan Maharani (Photo: Intagram @puanmaharani)

JAKARTA - Chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, reminded the government to accelerate the disbursement of aid for workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, assistance through the Wage Subsidy Assistance (BSU) program should be disbursed this week, especially since PPKM continues to be extended.

"The PPKM period has entered a month, meaning that the subsidy for the monthly wages (BSU) of affected workers should have been disbursed," said Puan in Jakarta, Thursday, August 5.

The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture understands that the administrative process and data validation of prospective beneficiaries takes time. However, said Puan, that time should not exceed the deadline of a month after the PPKM was implemented.

“The aid must have entered the workers' accounts within this week. Can't wait until next week! Because this is related to the 'kitchen' of the workers,” said Puan.

In addition to the disbursement time, the chairman of the PDIP DPP also asked the government to listen to the voices of workers who feel they have not been accommodated by the BSU program. Because according to him, the BSU must meet the principle of justice for all affected workers who have met the criteria.

In addition to BSU, Puan also asked the government to immediately re-run the Pre-Employment Card program under the coordination of the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy. According to him, the next batch of Pre-Employment Cards should run immediately to target job seekers or workers who have been laid off during the emergency PPKM and Level 3-4 PPKM periods.

"Any administrative process for the realization of this program must consider the urgency of the community's needs, which cannot be delayed," said Puan.

To note, the government will give BSU to workers who earn a maximum of IDR 3.5 million/month, are registered with BP Jamsostek and work in PPKM Level 3-4 areas. The amount of assistance is IDR 1 million per worker for two months, namely July and August 2021.

Meanwhile, Pre-Employment Card participants will receive cash assistance of Rp. 3.55 million. With details, training incentives worth Rp. 1 million, cash amounting to R2.4 million, which is given Rp. 600 thousand in four months as post-training incentives, and survey incentives of Rp. 150 thousand for three surveys.