Jakarta – The government continues to strengthen poverty alleviation efforts by aligning social assistance (bansos) and community empowerment programs. This step is considered crucial to ensure that assistance is not only charitable but also promotes sustainable independence for the poor.
The Head of the Agency for the Acceleration of Poverty Alleviation (BP Taskin), Budiman Sudjatmiko, emphasized that social assistance should be focused solely on vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, people with disabilities, and people with mental disorders (ODGJ). This was conveyed in response to the rampant misuse of social assistance for online gambling activities.
“Social assistance should only be for the elderly, perhaps people with disabilities, or perhaps people with mental disorders, right?” said Budiman.
According to Budiman, poor communities who still have physical and mental abilities must be empowered through an integrated development approach. In this regard, the Task Force for Accelerating Poverty Alleviation (BP Taskin) has developed a Master Plan for Accelerating Poverty Alleviation with nine strategic approaches: food, shelter, renewable energy, transportation, education, health, creative industries, and digital industries.
“That’s why President Prabowo Subianto created BP Taskin so that its poverty alleviation approach isn’t simply about providing a lifeline,” Budiman emphasized.
He illustrated that simply providing assistance will make people feel they have enough to survive, but won’t lift them out of poverty. Instead, BP Taskin exists to provide mentoring and empowerment so that people can move 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 misuse of social assistance by some recipients for online gambling, with transactions reaching Rp957 billion. An analysis of 28.4 million social assistance recipients’ NIKs and 9.7 million judol players’ NIKs in 2024 revealed 571,410 identical NIKs.
“As many as two percent of social assistance recipients were judol players in 2024, and there were 7.5 million transactions worth Rp957 billion,” explained Saifullah Yusuf.
In response, the Ministry of Social Affairs has established three main strategies for reforming social assistance distribution. First, continuing existing social assistance programs, such as the Family Hope Program (PKH), the Staple Food Card (Kartu Sembako), the College Student ID Card (KIP Kuliah), and the National Health Insurance (JKN) PBI (PBI). Second, optimizing the use of the National Socioeconomic Single Data (DTSEN) and strengthening institutional synergy and digitizing assistance. Third, promoting an adaptive and sustainable assistance model, based on the principles of fairness, inclusivity, and accelerating graduation towards independence.
This synergistic step between the Task Force and the Ministry of Social Affairs is a breath of fresh air in the government’s efforts to reduce poverty and prevent misuse of social assistance, while simultaneously encouraging socioeconomic transformation for Indonesia’s poor.
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