JAKARTA - Commission VIII of the DPR RI asked the Government to improve the supervision system related to the implementation of the budget in the Uninhabitable House Assistance (RTLH) program for underprivileged residents. This follows the abuse committed by village officials.

The RLTH fund assistance is a stimulant assistance in the form of money for the purchase of building materials for the restoration of uninhabitable houses from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) to individuals, families, groups or communities, especially for underprivileged residents. The fund assistance is channeled through the Regional Government (Pemda).

Providing assistance is provided with the criteria for residents whose houses do not meet the building safety requirements, the minimum adequacy of building area, and the health of residents.

Although it is a program of the Ministry of PUPR, the home renovation social assistance for underprivileged residents must be based on DTKS (Social Welfare Integrated Data) belonging to the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos).

Member of Commission VIII DPR RI, Selly Andriany Change, said that this needs to be done so that there is no overlap in the provision of assistance. Moreover, the Ministry of Social Affairs also has a similar program, namely the Integrated Prosperous House Social Assistance (RSST) which is a continuation of the previous program in the form of Social Rehabilitation of Uninhabitable Houses (Rutilahu Hospital).

"The agreement is whether it is PUPR and any ministry or institution that has a house renovation program for the poor, so it must be based on DTKS belonging to the Ministry of Social Affairs so that it does not overlap," explained Selly, Tuesday, July 18.

"Then the reference for the construction must be the same as the RST from the Ministry of Social Affairs so that there is no difference. So far, those from PUPR have been tendered so that they are vulnerable to being misused by regional officials, while if the program from the Ministry of Social Affairs, the money goes directly to the recipient's account," he continued.

In the RLTH program, the Village Head (Kades) is usually assigned by the Regional Government to participate in monitoring, ranging from disbursement of funds to the rehabilitation of residents' houses receiving assistance. However, recently many RLTH social assistance funds were found for the community by the village head.

The corruption incident in the uninhabitable housing assistance program, among others, occurred in Bekasi where an individual village head was arrested for misappropriating funds amounting to Rp235 million. Similar cases also occurred in 2021 in Bogor, West Java, which resulted in an unscrupulous village head being detained for corruption amounting to Rp110 million.

Meanwhile, a former village head in Boyolali was brought to court for allegedly committing a criminal act of corruption in RTLH program assistance funds by cutting aid funds. The total value of state losses reached Rp 164 million.

"Don't take the rights of the small people, especially residents in need. This RLTH program aims to help eradicate extreme poverty whose domain is the Ministry of Social Affairs. So it is necessary to involve the Ministry of Social Affairs so that the distribution is right," said Selly.

"The use of the aid budget should be supervised by the Family Hope Program Assistance (PKH) and District Social Welfare Workers (TKSK), as is done by the Ministry of Social Affairs. Now, from this PUPR, the supervision should be more detailed so that it is not easily misused," he said.

Even though there are a number of corruption cases, Selly assesses that the house renovation social assistance program in the regions must still be carried out. Because the rehabilitation assistance for uninhabitable houses is very helpful for the community to live in decent housing.

"House renovation assistance is made to create livable houses that are supported by public infrastructure, facilities, and utilities so as to make healthy, safe, and with good sanitation," said Selly.


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