Jakarta – The government continues to strengthen its poverty alleviation efforts by aligning social assistance (bansos) programs with community empowerment initiatives. This step is considered crucial to ensure that assistance is not merely charitable but also promotes the sustainable self-reliance of poor communities.
Head of the Poverty Alleviation Acceleration Agency (BP Taskin), Budiman Sudjatmiko, emphasized that social assistance should be focused solely on vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, persons with disabilities, and people with mental disorders. His statement came in response to the increasing misuse of social assistance funds for online gambling activities.
“Bansos should ideally be reserved for the elderly, those who are possibly disabled, and people with mental health issues, right?” said Budiman.
According to Budiman, poor communities that still possess physical and mental abilities must be empowered through an integrated development approach. In this context, BP Taskin has prepared a Master Plan for Accelerating Poverty Alleviation based on nine strategic approaches: food, housing, shelter, renewable energy, transportation, education, health, the creative industry, and the digital industry.
“That’s why President Prabowo Subianto established BP Taskin, so that the approach to poverty alleviation is not merely about providing life jackets,” Budiman stressed.
He illustrated that simply providing assistance would only make people feel sufficient to survive, but it would not help them escape poverty. Conversely, BP Taskin is present to offer guidance and empowerment, enabling communities to progress towards independent and prosperous lives.
Meanwhile, Minister of Social Affairs, Saifullah Yusuf, also known as Gus Ipul, revealed that the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) recorded the misuse of social assistance funds by some recipients for online gambling, with total transactions reaching IDR 957 billion. Based on an analysis of 28.4 million beneficiary identification numbers (NIK) and 9.7 million NIKs of online gamblers in 2024, 571,410 identical NIKs were found.
“Two percent of social assistance recipients were online gamblers in 2024, with 7.5 million transactions amounting to IDR 957 billion,” explained Saifullah Yusuf.
In response to this, the Ministry of Social Affairs has set three main strategies for reforming social assistance distribution. First, continuing the existing social assistance programs, such as the Family Hope Program (PKH), Basic Food Cards, Smart Indonesia College Cards (KIP Kuliah), and National Health Insurance Contribution Assistance (PBI JKN). Second, optimizing the use of the National Single Social and Economic Data (DTSEN), strengthening institutional synergy, and digitizing assistance systems. Third, promoting adaptive and sustainable assistance models based on principles of fairness, inclusivity, and accelerated graduation towards self-reliance.
The synergistic collaboration between BP Taskin and the Ministry of Social Affairs offers new hope in the government’s efforts to reduce poverty rates, prevent the misuse of social assistance, and simultaneously drive socio-economic transformation for Indonesia’s poor communities.
