Tangerang Mayor Reveals Some Persons Perform 'Chocolate Operation', Take Ration From Social Assistance Recipients

Illustrations (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Tangerang Mayor H Arief R Wismansyah did not deny that there were cuts in cash social assistance (bansos) in his area. He calls this method shell surgery and is usually carried out by certain individuals.

"There is another term if there is a shell operation in the field. So (this, ed) if the money is received directly by the recipient, yes," said Arief in an online discussion program broadcast on the Indonesian KPK YouTube, Thursday, August 19.

The person's modus operandi, he said, was to ask for money for fatigue, travel fees, or various other reasons to cut off the aid received by the community. The money requested was with various nominal, ranging from Rp. 50 thousand.

Although many people who gave voluntarily out of sympathy have been helped to take aid, this does not really need to be done. So, at this time, his party is looking for this person and asking for help from law enforcement officers who are authorized to handle it, namely the police and the prosecutor's office.

"We are currently investigating the individuals below," he said.

Arief said the problem of cutting social assistance in his area had indeed occurred a lot. Not only shell operations, but there are also other modes of cutting money from people who ask for help from the bank.

"So we know the problem is very complex, yes. When it comes to social assistance, it's as if there is sugar there are ants," he said.

"In addition, sometimes this is because there were only (a few, red) officers in the field. There were only two, for example, one community social worker and one assistant. This became an obstacle in the field," he concluded.