Agency in Charge of Data Verification Has Not Been Named

Kompas

A healthcare worker checks the tension of a volunteer during a simulation for coronavirus vaccine clinical trials next week at the Faculty of Medicine at Padjadjaran University amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Bandung, Indonesia, August 6, 2020.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The government is targeting that the wage subsidies for workers be realized at the end of this month. However, the regulatory framework for the disbursement of the wage subsidies is not yet ready. According to the plan, this program is managed under the regulation issued by the manpower minister. However, a number of provisions, such as regarding the recipients of the wage subsidies and a data verification mechanism, have not been agreed upon in the draft regulation. The manpower minister’s regulation, which will be used as the legal umbrella for the wage subsidies, is still under finalization at the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

Meanwhile, BPJS Ketenagakerjaan or BP Jamsostek has started collecting bank account numbers of workers with a monthly salary of Rp 5 million (US$340). They will receive a wage subsidy of Rp 600,000 per month for four months.

As of Wednesday (12/8/2020), bank account numbers of 5.8 million workers participating in the social security program run by BPJS Ketenagakerjaan have been collected. Their status is a wage earner, meaning that they were registered with BPJS by their employers.

Also read : No Coverage for Non-BPJS Workers

The government is targeting 15.7 million private workers participating in BPJS Ketenagakerjaan to receive the wage subsidies. It is expected that the subsidies can be disbursed starting at the end August through the workers’ bank accounts.

Contacted on Wednesday, the head of the public relations bureau of the Manpower Ministry, Soes Hindharno, said a number of important points had not been agreed upon in the proposed regulation for the wage subsidies, including its targeted recipients. So far, the data collected by BPJS Ketenagakerjaan only details those who were registered with BPJS by their employers.

Meanwhile, BPJS Ketenagakerjaan’s members whose status is an independent worker or those who don’t receive wages and register with BPJS with their own initiatives are not included in the list of the wage subsidy recipients. Generally, they are informal workers or contract workers who pay contributions themselves.

Also read : Government Alters Strategy in Handling Covid-19

Kompas

Workers prepare to register as members of the BPJS Ketenagakerjaan in Semarang City, Central Java, on Tuesday (15/9/2015). This social security provides protection for workers with life insurance benefits, work accident benefits and pension benefits.

"Basically, workers who don’t receive any social assistance can benefit from the wage subsidies. We personally want them (workers who are not wage earners) to be included in the list of recipients. Informal workers also need help. However, there are many suggestions, so this is not final yet, it is still being discussed, "he said.

The executive director of the Indonesian Center of Reform on Economics (CORE), Mohammad Faisal, said data verification was quite important to ensure that wage subsidies reached the targeted recipients. If the aid is disbursed to wrong recipients, the government\'s target to increase household consumption in order to avoid a recession cannot be reached.

Basically, workers who don’t receive any social assistance can benefit from the wage subsidies.

Data verification

According to Soes, the mechanism in the verification of the data on wage subsidy recipients and the institution which will be in charge in the data verification has not been decided yet.

So far, the Manpower Ministry has acted as the paying agent, with BP Jamsostek as the data provider. "If there is inaccuracy in data, it is not the responsibility of the Manpower Ministry. Hence, we ask for valid data from BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. When submitting the data of the potential recipients, we need confirmation from an agency that the data is correct," said Soes.

Soes added the regulation proposed by the Manpower Ministry could change during the harmonization process because there are still suggestions coming from other government agencies, including the Finance Ministry, the Supreme Audit Agency, and the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency.

Also read : Make Sure Social Assistance Is Well Disbursed

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Workers are installing a water discharge platform on the Becakayu Toll Road construction project in the Jakasampurna area, Bekasi, on Tuesday (14/1/2020). The government, through BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, has increased the benefits of the employment security program, namely the work accident insurance and death security benefits.

Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said that the government was still finalizing the plan to provide the wage subsidies. Sectors whose workers will receive the wage subsidies include hotels, restaurants and airlines.

"The government prioritizes workers in hotels, restaurants and airplanes because we know that many of them are young people who are working for the first time," he said.

Right on target

Faisal said that that the data verification must also cover the actual salaries received of the workers, so the government needed to ask in detail about their wages to the companies that employ them to ensure that only those with a salary of less than Rp 5 million per month receive the subsidies.

"Apart from being unfair, if the recipients are financially capable workers, its impact on the consumption is not much," said Faisal.

Also read : Muddled Data Causes Social Aid Confusion

According to him, ideally, the social assistance for workers is not exclusive. BPJS’s independent members who pay their contributions themselves should also receive the same assistance.

Meanwhile, in his remarks at the 2019 Paritrana Award social security award handover ceremony on Wednesday, Vice President Ma\'ruf Amin asked BPJS Ketenagakerjaan to cooperate with all business players to expand the coverage of the workers’ social security program. This social security system is quite important especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.