Tapera Claimed Same As Program In Singapore

Illustration. (Photo: Ministry of PUPR)

JAKARTA - The Public Housing Savings Management Agency or BP Tapera said the Tapera program, which starts in early 2021, will give Indonesians the opportunity to have the proper housing they want.

"This Tapera program will begin to be implemented in January 2021, starting with active ASN and active ex Bapertarum participants. Active ex Bapertarum participants will automatically become Tapera participants, whose all savings funds will be transferred to Tapera, they can also enjoy various Tapera facilities, namely owning the first occupancy, building the first residence, as well as the cost of renovating the house, "said Deputy Commissioner of BP Tapera Eko Ariantoro in a written statement as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, July 22.

He said the Tapera program was commonly implemented in various countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, China, France and Germany. When compared to other countries, Indonesia is far behind, considering that Singapore has had this program since the 1950s and China in the 1990s.

In Singapore, through the Central Provident Fund (CPF) program, it has been successful in assisting the community in housing financing since 1955. CPF is an agency that collects welfare funds with contributions from the income of the people of Singapore.

Part of the contribution is allocated for community housing programs so that the government has sufficient strength and financial support to meet housing financing needs. The contribution that must be paid is 37 percent of the monthly salary with a composition of 20 percent for workers and 17 percent for employers, as quoted from Fortia Strategic Partner.

Like Singapore, Malaysia also has a similar program called the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). The program, which has been mandatory since 1991, sets contributions at 23 percent of monthly wages with a composition of 11 percent workers and 12 percent employers.

Likewise, several other countries such as China (Housing Provident Fund since 1991), France (Compte D'epargne Logement and Plan D'epargne Logement since 1965), and Germany (Bauspar since 1921). Likewise in Indonesia, the government provides access to the public in the affordable housing finance program, which is provided by the government to its people.

Still Lagging

The coverage of access to housing finance in Indonesia is currently not optimal, as shown by the ratio of KPR to GDP in Indonesia which is still below three percent and quite behind Malaysia which has reached 38.4 percent.

In addition, this financing facilitation is not yet widely accessible, especially for informal workers and people who build houses independently. The community needs low-risk housing finance in large quantities, which is sustainable, and channeled by a variety of channeling institutions.

Indonesia has also been doing the same thing since the issuance of Law No. 4 of 2016 and Government Regulation No. 25/2020 concerning the Implementation of Public Housing Savings (Tapera) which was endorsed by President Joko Widodo.

Tapera was formed to manage the Public Housing Savings program in Indonesia, based on the principle of mutual cooperation for all Indonesian people, including ASN employees, BUMN / BUMD / BUMdes, TNI / Polri, private workers and independent workers. The government also provides operational funds to Tapera to manage it, not taken from the participants' savings.

This shows how the government wants to realize the housing needs of its people so that a prosperous Indonesian society can be achieved.