Changed Mechanism for Data Collection on Social Assistance Recipients

This new policy is based on Law Number 13 Year 2011 regarding the handling of the poor. The article mentions that the names of social assistance recipients are determined by the local government through village or neighborhood deliberations.

"This is done because sometimes there are reports to us that the proposed individuals are A's closest associates. In fact, there are officials responsible for this who propose themselves," said Risma at the Ministry of Social Affairs office in Jakarta on Wednesday (8/5/2024).

Poor people who feel they are worthy of receiving social assistance, but have not yet registered, can object via the Cek Bansos application.

Village and neighborhood deliberations must be conducted at least once every three months, after which the results will be validated by the district/city government and submitted to the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) for the distribution of social assistance.

The Ministry of Social Affairs then launched the Social Welfare Information System (SIKS) application as a place to report the results of village or neighborhood meetings. Some documents that the village must upload include the minutes of the meeting, documentation, attendance list, and documentation of the publication of meeting results.

Also read: Politicization of social assistance and non-neutrality of officials are feared to continue in the 2024 regional elections

However, if under certain circumstances, a meeting cannot be held, the village head, district head, or equivalent officials can submit proposals using a Statement of Absolute Responsibility Letter (SPTJM). "This new mechanism will take effect next month," he said.

Minimize cheating

Risma ensured that the cheating gap in the distribution of social aid can be minimized with digitalization like this. All instruments from the Ministry of Social Affairs, such as the facilitation of the Family Hope Program (PKH), and so on, are prohibited from participating in the data collection process.

The same goes for the security of personal data contained within the system. This is because the data security system is standardized within ISO 9001 for quality management systems and ISO 27001 for technology and information security.

"There are indeed some regions with difficult internet connections, but the data load is not too heavy, so I think it is possible," said Risma.

Also read: Ombudsman Finds Maladministration in PKH Social Assistance

When contacted separately, member of the Indonesian Ombudsman, Robert Na Endi Jaweng, deemed that this new mechanism is indeed in accordance with the recommendation they gave earlier this year to prevent repeated maladministration. This is because in many areas, the process of collecting recipient data for social aid is not done through village or sub-district consultation procedures.

The problem extends to the next process when the social service officers in the district or city verify and validate the data because the data collected does not match the facts on the ground. Incompetent actions in determining graduation, data updates, and matching data for PKH social assistance recipients have caused misdirected distribution.

However, this new mechanism does not entirely guarantee that the data on recipients of social assistance is 100% accurate. The next issue is related to the commitment of local governments to conduct factual verification of data resulting from regional deliberations.

According to Robert, local governments often use the excuse of not having a budget to carry out such actions, resulting in data from villages or neighborhoods being simply approved and handed over to the Ministry of Social Affairs. The Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) is urged to further encourage its local governments to maximize their budget for verifying social aid recipients.

"If the Minister of Home Affairs considers this a strategic program, he should coordinate with local governments to prepare funds for conducting factual verification, which can be done every November-December during the preview of the Regional Budget Draft," said Robert.

Also read: Strengthen your position so you don't just become a ministry that distributes social assistance

In addition, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs are urged to be wary of the potential politicization in the process of collecting data on social assistance recipients. Strengthening grassroots community institutions in the regions is necessary to uphold integrity and achieve targeted distribution of social assistance.