Government Review Use Of PeduliLindungi For Subsidy Distribution

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) II, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo admitted that he was discussing with the government to develop the use of the PeduliLindungi application after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are talking with other ministries, about how to actually use PeduliLindungi post COVID-19. Can it be used as a means of distributing subsidies from the government to the public or for other uses," he said, as quoted from Antara, Monday, October 17.

He said the PeduliLindungi application had been downloaded by 95 million people.

The use of PeduliLindungi during COVID-19 is used by the government to track and trace the spread of the coronavirus.

"In the last year of COVID-19, many people have fallen ill and they have been diagnosed as positive for COVID-19, then they can do a telemedicine examination from home, and their medicine can be delivered directly to their home," he said.

He assessed that the PeduliLindungi application made the public realize that they did not always need to come directly to the doctor to check their health or get medicine, because both can be done through an online platform.

On the other hand, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has also digitized the financial sector such as banking which must continue to serve customers even without face-to-face contact.

He gave an example of Bank Mandiri, which has 35 million customers spread throughout Indonesia where up to 90 percent of the total customers were still making direct transactions before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have to educate them to start adopting their facilities so they can still manage their debt or access new debt through online platforms," ​​he said.

At the same time, debts of 3.3 million customers with a value of up to IDR 260 trillion were also restructured through digital platforms in the midst of the pandemic.

The public has continued to use digital platforms both to access health and banking services after COVID-19.

"People in rural areas, for example, have become accustomed to actually continuing their transactions online," he said.