Data Collection of Relief Recipients Not Optimal

The government is still struggling with collecting data on recipients of the social safety net program, while the people hope the relief can be realized soon.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

A Bajaj driver loads boxes on the roof of his three-wheeled vehicle on Thursday (2/4/2020) in Jembatan Lima, Jakarta.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The government has decided to expand the beneficiaries of the social safety net program in order to minimize the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. However, the data on the recipients is still incomplete. As a result, there is no certainty when the people can receive the assistance.

As of Thursday (2/4/2020), based on the monitoring of Kompas, the data was still being collected from various sources. The methods of collection include sending a letter, or through a limited coordination meeting, coordination with data owners in ministries/institutions, local governments, digital platforms, and business associations.

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According to the secretary of the office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, Susiwijono, the deadline for the collection of recipient data was Wednesday, 1 April. However, the majority of the data collected is still too general. "The data is not detailed. There are no names or addresses. The additional information should, therefore, be obtained and searched from other sources so that the database can be immediately prepared," he said in Jakarta on Thursday.

The government has allocated Rp 110 trillion (US$6.67 billion) for additional social safety net programs related to Covid-19. The number of the recipients of the Hope Family Program has, for example, been expanded from 9.2 million families to 10 million families, and the value is increased by 25 percent. The number of the recipients of the basic food assistance program (Basic Food Cards) for the poor has also been increased from 15.2 million families to 20 million families, while the value of the assistance for each family has been increased from Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000.

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KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Yanto arranges plastic bags of aquarium fish on Thursday (2/4/2020) at an ornamental fish farm near Mount Sindur in Bogor regency, West Java. The Covid-19 outbreak in Indonesia has disrupted the activities of thousands of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including the ornamental fish trade.

Meanwhile, the allocation for the pre-employment card has been increased from Rp 10 trillion to Rp 20 trillion and the number of its beneficiaries has been increased from 2 million to 5.6 million people.

Meanwhile, state electricity company PLN’s customers of the 450 volt amperes (VA) category will be allowed not to pay their bills for three months starting April 2020. The customers of the 900 VA category will receive a 50 percent discount for three months starting April 2020.

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Susiwijono said that so far the social safety net program that was ready for implementation was the pre-employment card. The data of the recipients were entered into the database this week. "Hopefully, beginning next week, the incentives for workers and businesses affected by Covid-19 can be launched and disbursed," he said.

In a teleconferenced meeting with the House of Representatives Commission IX on Thursday, Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah said as many 9,183 workers at 153 companies were temporarily laid off as of 1 April 2020 . Meanwhile in the same period, 2,311 other workers at 56 companies were permanently laid off or dismissed.

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KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (center left, foreground) hands over a Presidential Letter to House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Puan Maharani (center right, foreground) at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta, Thursday (2/4/2020). The Presidential Letter proposed a series of legal adjustments for reallocating funding from the state budget to a Covid-19 emergency fund.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said the valid data currently owned by the government is only from the Family Hope Program, the Basic Food Cards, and electricity customers. The data of the recipients of the assistance for people affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, mostly informal workers, is not yet available.

Impact of restrictions

During a teleconferenced limited Cabinet meeting on Thursday, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that the livelihood of at least 3.6 million people in Jakarta was affected by social restrictions. They will get social assistance from the central government and the Jakarta provincial government.

Due to the implementation of the large-scale social restrictions, many residents will have no income to meet their daily needs. They will rely on government assistance. Jufri (38), for example, no longer sells grilled sausages in front of his rented house in Kramatjati, East Jakarta, since Covid-19 hit Indonesia. He spent most of savings to support his family.

Ati, another Kramatjati resident, has borrowed a lot of money even though his vegetable business is still running. However, she said she was worried about her family\'s future because her husband, who is a janitor at a shopping center, could also be laid off.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

An ojol (ride-hailing motorcycle taxi) driver takes a packaged drink from a free lunch stand on Jl. Raya Jatiwaringin in East Jakarta, Thursday (2/4/2020). The residents of Waringin Permai housing complex have arranged the stand to provide free meals to ojol drivers and the poor from 26 March to 7 April 2020.

Meanwhile, the government is preparing various efforts to reduce the number of people traveling to their hometowns for the upcoming Idul Fitri holidays to prevent the spread of Covid-19. In addition to appealing to residents not to travel home, the government is also considering shifting the Idul Fitri holidays and preparing social assistance for people who choose not to go home.

See the whole thing, from upstream, middle and downstream.

During a teleconferenced meeting in preparation for the Idul Fitri holidays, the President asked his ministers to prepare a number of scenarios that could be used to discourage people not to go home during Idul Fitri. “See the whole thing, from upstream, middle and downstream," said the President, who chaired a meeting of the Bogor Palace, West Java.

After a limited meeting, Social Affairs Minister Juliari P. Batubara explained that assistance would be given to residents who did not go home in order to reduce the number of people traveling to their hometowns during Idul Fitri. In a teleconferenced meeting at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency in Jakarta on Thursday, Juliari hoped the regional government would also provide the social assistance program for the residents.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

A notice of temporarily closure hangs on the gate of a residential community on Jl. Mawar Raya in Margamulya, Bekasi city, West Java, Thursday (2/4/2020).