Cases Of Fund Collection For Countries Ended Tragically

Illustration by Andry Winarko (VOI)

JAKARTA - While still the TNI Commander, Moeldoko, now the Presidential Chief of Staff, admitted that he had been annoyed with PT Asuransi Sosial Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia (Asabri), because during his tenure as commander in chief he could not access the number of deposits belonging to 500 thousand soldiers.

"Imagine that the Commander, who has 500 thousand soldiers, can't even touch him, put people can't, finally I called the management for a presentation. Until yesterday's incident I didn't understand" he complained when facing the PT Asabri case. He also warned Tapera not to have the same fate as Asabri.

The collection of funds through Asabri has become a dark story for TNI residents recently. They had to lose Old Age Savings money and Pension Contribution Accumulation Program (AIP) funds which were set aside from a cut of 8 percent of their basic salary per month while serving in the TNI, due to the inadequacy in Asabri's management. It is estimated that the funds worth 22.788 trillion were corrupted and the existence was unclear, it is suspected that the funds flowed to a number of places under the pretext that they were invested. As a result of this case, the director of PT Asabri, Benny Tjokrosaputro, along with 7 other directors, had to deal with the court.

Moeldoko's experience did not want to happen in Tapera. So Moeldoko felt the need to remember the case when he opened a press conference about the Tapera program which was considered to have similarities as a community fundraising program, in front of a number of media crews, at the end of last April.

Likewise, the same trauma and unrest were also felt by the public when facing the government's offer in the current Tapera Program. In addition to these problems, there are also several problems that have become public reluctance to accept the implementation of the Tapera Program policy in accordance with Law Number 4 of 2016 concerning Public Housing Savings, following the implementation rules, Government Regulation (PP) Number 21 of 2024 concerning amendments to Government Regulation Number 25 of 2020 concerning the Implementation of Public Housing Savings.

Apart from doubting this program, there are still many questions in the public's mind about this program. Among other things, whether people's efforts to save for years can realize ownership of houses, how many years can be realized, civilized income can be realized with existing schemes.

Again, Moeldoko emphasized that the Tapera program is not a contribution, but as a savings that can be taken plus with the results of the maturation. This program is implemented for workers who have salaries above the UMR or above 4 million. He also explained that from the results of Google Trend searches, it is known that public curiosity about Tapera and the registration mechanism is quite high.

The official levy will take place in 2027. The control will be supervised by a Committee, chaired by PUPR with members from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Manpower, OJK and Professionals. "The minimum will be properly controlled by the Committee, at least it will be monitored by the OJK," he said.

Minimum Year Savings In Tapera

BP Tepera commissioner, Heru Pudyo Nugroho, explained that Tapera's presence was driven by the reason that the residential affordability index or housing was still low. It is known that the affordability of the house is still low. The cost of affordable houses is still above 5. It is said that the price of affordable houses if indek 3, or 3 times the income in a year can be used to buy a house.

The current condition in the 12 most populous provinces in Indonesia, the number of affordability is above 5, meaning that it is very unaffordable. This occurs in all segments, both the MBR, the Medium and the Upper Society. For this reason, Tapera is present according to the mandate of Law 4/2016. To improve the affordability of the community at the price of the house. By reducing interest rates which have an impact on decreasing monthly installments.

If it is assumed to take the house for 100 million. He said there is a difference of 1 million if you take the Tapera PPR instead of displacing commercial mortgages. If we go home with commercial mortgages, the installments are around 3.1 million interest assumptions by 11 percent. Meanwhile, with Tapera's mortgage, installments are only 2.1 million, including the benefits of savings. But before applying for credit, Tapera participants have to save first to see the capacity of their multiplier abilities. Saving 1 year is enough to show the track record of their capabilities.

Heru emphasized that if you look at the substance of Tapera, not all workers are required. "What is required is only workers whose minimum wage income is above the UMK or around Rp. 4 million. What is below is not mandatory," he said.

Answering the question why those who don't need a house or already have a house are also required to save in Tapera? Answering that, Heru said that the backlog for homeownership in Indonesia is still very high. About 9.9 million people do not own a house, look at the backlog and there is a gap between the needs and the provision of housing is still high. Meanwhile, government capabilities with various schemes, subsidies, and financing facilities can only be provided 250 thousand houses. Meanwhile, the demand statistical data for demand is around 700 thousand-800 thousand new families who need a house. "So if you rely on the backlog government, you will not be overtaken at any time," said Heru.

According to him, there needs to be a Grand Design that includes the community. Together with the government and the concept is not contributions but saving. For those who already own a house, it helps subsidies interest for those who do not have a home. Participate in saving so that interest is maintained at a lower level than commercial interest at this time of 5 percent. "That's why it covers, that's the principle of mutual cooperation. That's actually very noble," he said.

Workers And Entrepreneurs Scream

However, the workers still refuse the implementation of the program. According to them, the time for the policy is not right in the midst of the current difficult conditions. Apart from the unclear mechanism for implementing the program. Another reason for workers to refuse Tapera. First, regarding the contributions that will erode their wages because low workers still have many other bills. Second, the threat of layoffs if the company has difficulty because it bears the burden of Tapera.

President of the Confederation of All Indonesian Trade Unions (KSBSI) Elly Rosita Silaban said, although the wages of workers/workers have increased every year, the increase is still considered insufficient for the needs of workers, especially if there is a Tapera contribution.

Meanwhile, in terms of entrepreneurs, Chairman of the Indonesian Employers' Association (APINDO) Shinta Kamdani emphasized that APINDO firmly rejected the policy of cutting workers' salaries by 3 percent for Public Housing Savings (Tapera). First, PP Number 21 of 2024 is considered a duplication with the previous program, namely the Benefits of Additional Services (MLT) for housing participants in the Old Age Security (JHT) Program of the Employment Social Security Administration (BP Jamsostek)/BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. "You can take advantage of funding sources from BPJS Ketenagakerjaan funds," said Shinta.

Shinta hopes that the government can further optimize the BPJS Employment fund, which is in accordance with the PP of a maximum of 30 percent or Rp. 138 trillion from the funds. Shinta said, JHT's assets of 460 trillion can be used for the housing MLT program for workers, considering the availability of very large MLT funds and are considered not to be maximally utilized.

Currently, according to him, the burden of levies borne by business actors has reached 18.22 19.74 percent of work income with details, the Employment Social Security program based on Law Number 3 of 1999, including JHT (3.7 percent), Death Security (0.3 percent), Work Accident Insurance (0.24-1.74%), Pension Security (2 percent). Then the Social Health Security program based on Law Number 40 of 2004, is 4 percent. Coupled with the Severance Reserve program according to Law Number 13 of 2003 and Law Number 24 of 2004 amounting to 8 percent.

"This burden is getting heavier with the depreciation of the rupiah and the weakening of market demand," said Shinta.

Agreeing with APINDO, Elly Rosita Silaban, the government can actually maximize the use of BPJS Ketenagakerjaan MLT funds for housing ownership programs for workers who do not have a place to live.

Tapera's criticism also came from the former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD, who said the government should consider public votes, instead of requiring Tapera to socialize and guarantee ownership is unclear.

"If there is no guarantee policy, it will get a home from the government for the saver. The mathematical calculation does not make sense," Mahfud said in his X account, Thursday, May 30.

Based on the calculation, employees with a salary of Rp. 5 million whose work period is 30 years, will only get a Tapera balance of Rp. 100 million. Meanwhile, employees who earn Rp. 10 million in 30 years of service only get a Tapera balance of Rp. 225 million. "Now it's difficult to get a house with Rp. 225 million," he added.

Only those who have a salary of Rp. 15 million have the opportunity to get a house. Only they will prefer to take housing loans (KPR) through banks because it was clear from the start with a lighter assumption.

DPR Participates In Highlighting Tapera

Member of Commission II of the DPR, Mardani Ali Sera also criticized the pay cut of private employees and state civil servants (ASN) for Public Housing Savings (Tapera) by 3 percent. He is worried that President Joko Widodo's program will end like the Jiwasraya or Asabri mega corruption case.

According to him, the government was wrong, because it prioritized mandatory obligation to cut 3 percent where 2.5 of the workers and 0.5 of the employers. "The government should first explain the big picture of this Tapera," said the chairman of the PKS DPP, quoted from his X account, Wednesday, May 29.

He also highlighted the land problem for the construction of the Tapera program house which has the potential to have an impact on costs. "The discount takes precedence but it is not clear what kind of commitment to providing land from the government. If it is built away from the work location, it will increase the cost of transportation," he said.

Although the government has explained the substance of the mobilization of the community to work together to participate in Tapera, especially for those who already have housing. However, the Tapera savings guarantee still leaves doubts. KSP Moeldoko guarantees that the program will be supervised by the Committee chaired by the PUPR minister and consists of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Manpower, OJK and professionals, has not made them 100 percent sure about the safety of their savings. People are still traumatized by the model of collecting funds so far.

Both for the case of collecting funds in Asabri, which later revealed that the funds had disappeared. In fact, the funds belonging to the soldiers were surrounded by TNI officials to the TNI Commander. However, the fundraising is problematic.

The Asabri case was suspected by SOE Minister Erick Thohir to be problematic. So that he finally reported the alleged corruption based on the results of an audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to the Attorney General's Office at the end of 2020. Based on the results of the BPK audit, the value of state losses in the PT ASABRI corruption case reached Rp 22 trillion.

In this Asabri case, the Public Prosecutor (JPU) demanded the death penalty for the defendant Heru Hidayat. The boss of PT Trada Alam Minera (TRAM) is demanded to be maximally prosecuted because he is considered proven guilty of corruption and money laundering (TPPU) in the management of investment funds owned by PT Asuransi Sosial Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia (ASABRI). PT Asabri funds are sourced from two Asabri participant programs, namely Old Age Savings and Pension Contribution Accumulation Program (AIP). The funds come from the basic salaries of the TNI, Polri, and ASN at the Ministry of Defense which are deducted by 8 percent per month. In detail, the Pension Fund is 4.75 percent of the basic salary, and THT 3.25 percent of the basic salary, which is collected for deposits by PT Asabri. Likewise, the case of collecting funds by PT Jiwasraya, is still under the auspices of BUMN. It is easy for these funds to become a bancakan for corrupt elements, up to state losses reaching trillions of rupiah.