Registration For Batch Four Pre-employment Cards Will Be Opened Because The Community Needs It

Online training illustration (FirmBee / Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Director of Communication for the Implementation of the Pre-Employment Management Program, Panji Winanteya Ruky, said that registration for the fourth batch of the Pre-Employment Card program will be opened soon. This is because the process of this program can no longer be postponed, especially if the delay is until the end of the year.

"It can't be done until the end of this year. It must be fast. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy (Airlangga Hartarto) said this must be done immediately. This must be the priority of all ministries and committees in pursuing this," Panji said in a webinar via the Zoom platform, Saturday, June 27.

He predicts that registration for programs that are included in the social safety net in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic will be opened in the near future. "I think no more than a few weeks because society needs it," he stressed.

Panji said that the current Prakerja management has indeed temporarily stopped the registration process for batch four in accordance with the recommendation from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Moreover, the recommendation found a number of problems related to the program's governance. This is what then made Prakerja management decide to postpone the registration of batch four.

After the KPK's recommendation, continued Panji, Prakerja made a number of improvements.

One way is to collaborate with a number of ministries such as the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises to provide training.

In addition, according to President Jokowi's direction, his party will make policies and regulations so that pre-employment card participants can be directly linked with job providers. Currently, Panji said the pre-employment card management is discussing with the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto.

"How can we link and match from various sectors. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy as the work copyright committee then invited all ministries to jointly develop policies and regulations and together form the executive management," he said.

He also ensured that no State Civil Service Apparatus (ASN), Police, and TNI could participate in this program. Given that they are not targets in this assistance program. "Ensuring ASN, TNI, and Polri do not get pre-work," he said.

Previously, a number of parties considered that the Pre-Work Card program which was included as a social safety net for people affected by COVID-19 should be stopped. Moreover, the 'fishy smell' of the corruption scandal was detected in the program.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) Coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo said the Pre-Work Card program, which is one of the social safety net assistance in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, needs to be stopped immediately.

"We have to stop this program because the structural design is wrong, the goal is wrong, the intention is wrong. Therefore, we better stop this program," said Adnan in a discussion entitled 'Will the KPK Findings End in a Mega Scandal of 5.6 Trillion Pre-Work Cards ? ' on the Prakerja.org YouTube account, Thursday, 26 June.

He said, instead of spending budget money on programs such as Pre-Work Cards, the budget should be converted into pure cash direct assistance (BLT).

This is because fresh money is considered more needed and can build social resilience in the midst of a crisis like this, rather than providing programs that cannot be directly felt by the community.

He said that if this Pre-Work Card program continues, the KPK should immediately enter into prosecution steps.

"Because the fishy smell is clear enough and there is no option for the KPK not to take legal action," he said.

Adnan assessed that if there was no prosecution process from the KPK that had conducted a study and found irregularities, it was not impossible that these kinds of projects would re-emerge.

"If the Pre-employment Card passes as a policy, new prey will emerge and this could eat up the budget actually allocated to deal with the impact of the pandemic," he said.

Prakerja.org initiator Andri Kusuma spoke up about the KPK study. According to him, Prakerja.org appreciates the KPK's study on the government's Pre-Employment Card.

It's just that he hopes that the KPK study can continue to the prosecution stage. Because, he considered that a number of criminal acts in the program had occurred.

"The mens rea is also very bright, in which the KPK stated in its study, conflicts of interest between digital platforms and training institutions and the five digital platforms that hold training and curation roles advertise training in the same company," he concluded.