Commemorating HLUN 2022, Social Affairs Minister: Elderly Must Stay Healthy and Productive

The Ministry of Social Affairs provides various services with a total assistance value of IDR 26,958,320,000

TASIKMALAYA (29 May 2022) - The 2022 National Elderly Day (HLUN) commemoration is centered at Singaparna Medika Citrautama Hospital (SMC). Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini was present to give a speech.

The Social Minister's arrival was enthusiastically welcomed by the people of Tasikmalaya Regency with the Ketuk Tilu dance. The dance that describes the joy was performed by 6 elderly.

Their age was between 67-74 years. However, they can move swiftly to the accompaniment of fast rhythmic music. They received a big applause at the end of the show.

The Minister of Social Affairs in her remarks emphasized policies that are oriented toward improving the quality of life of the elderly. "The Ministry of Social Affairs pays attention to the elderly who live alone and are economically deprived. It is the state's responsibility in caring for elderly people," she said.

The Ministry of Social Affairs viewed that the elderly were not a burden to the state. The Minister stated that it does not mean the older you are, the less productive you can be.

"Elderly can remain productive. But that does not mean that the elderly are forced to work. They can do activities that are beneficial to both health and the economy. If they are happy, they can increase their immunity," she said.

For this reason, the Minister of Social Affairs advised all societies to participate in providing space for the elderly, so that they remain healthy and productive. The one who was most obliged to ensure their condition was the family, particularly their children.

"It’s regrettable that an elderly has been dumped by his child. He was dropped off in the middle of the road and neglected. This is very awful," said the Minister.

On this occasion, the Minister expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the Tasikmalaya Regency Government, leaders and the community since they actively participate in helping the elderly, including in rebuilding uninhabitable houses (RTLH) for the elderly.

“All parties work together in rebuilding uninhabitable houses. I saw that some elderly teamed up to build an uninhabitable house. This is truly amazing," said the Minister.

Present at this event were the Deputy Governor of West Java Uu Ruzhanul Ulum, Member of Commission VIII DPR RI Hj. Subarna, officials of the Ministry of Social Affairs, regional leadership coordination forum (Forkopimda) of Tasikmalaya Regency, as well as local leaders.

After giving her speech, the Minister greeted the community and the person in charge of service activities for the elderly in 39 districts one by one via teleconference.

In Tasikmalaya, the Ministry of Social Affairs distributed PKH Social Assistance for 33,471 beneficiaries, Social Harmony Assistance in two districts, local wisdom assistance in 15 districts and social granary assistance in 4 locations.

Then 355 houses for the elderly, masks, hand sanitizers, 2,000 prayer sets, 2,963 sets of hearing aids, 659 sets of glasses, 143 sets of crutches, 806 standard wheelchairs, and 36 adaptive wheelchairs.

There were also 50 walkers, 63 sets of tripods, 13,309 packs of basic necessities, 14,246 packages of clothing, 18,791 packages of nutrition assistance, 4,527 packages of medicine, 445 entrepreneurship assistance, masks, hand sanitizers and 2,000 packs of prayer set with a total amount of social assistance of IDR 26,958,320,000.

Tasikmalaya was chosen because Tasikmalaya has many elderly who live alone so the government through the Ministry of Social Affairs wants to pay more attention. There were approximately 28,000 single elderly in Tasikmalaya Regency.

The HLUN 2022 commemoration takes the theme of Healthy Elderly, Strong Indonesia. The theme was chosen based on the fact that the elderly population in Indonesia is quite large. According to data from the Statistics Indonesia (BPS) in 2021, there are 29.3 million elderly people in Indonesia (10.82% of the total population).