Commission VIII of the House of Representatives Held a Specific Working Visit in Bandung Regency

BANDUNG (30 June 2020) – Commission VIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives conducted a Specific Working Visit on the Distribution of Social Assistance in Mitigating the Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Bandung Regency. The activity was carried out at the Sabilulungan Regent's Office House in Bandung, which was attended by the Head of Social Service, Head of PMD Service, Head of Bandung BPBD, Bandung Police Chief, Head of Social Welfare Polytechnic, Head of Social Education and Research Agency, representatives of PT. Pos Indonesia, and Member of Commission VIII House of Representatives.

The first speech was delivered by the Regent of Bandung, Mr. H. Dadang M. Nasser. In his remarks, he said that Bandung Regency is an area that is quite low in the transmission of COVID-19, which is only 0.6% of the people affected by COVID-19. In addition, about 96% of the Social Assistance provided by the Government has been absorbed.

The Bandung Regency Government said that they would try to maintain the accuracy of the data on social assistance recipients. The people who received the social assistance were also given stickers/labels that were installed in the homes of the recipients.

The next speech was delivered by the Deputy Chairman of Commission VIII of the House Representatives, Mr. TB. Ace Hasan Syadzily. As for several things that were conveyed, the purpose of Commission VIII's arrival was to find out the distribution of social assistance, problems, and obstacles experienced during the social assistance delivery process.

The Deputy Chairperson of Commission VIII of the House of Representatives said that the main purpose of presenting this social assistance was to prevent the community from experiencing severe economic shocks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, Commission VIII reminded that the assistance provided must be right on target and appropriate for use. "We hope that the current programs do not overlap, whether it is assistance from various Ministries, Institutions or regional funds," said the Deputy Chairman of Commission VIII of the House of Representatives.

After the speech, the event continued with symbolic assistance to one of the recipients of Cash Social Assistance (BST) and a former PKH member who had graduated. In the next session, a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was held with the speakers are the Regent, the Deputy of Commission VIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives, the Head of Social Education and Research Center of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Head of Social Affairs Office of Bandung Regency.

During the FGD, the Head of Cibiru Wetan Village, Hadian Supriatna gave testimony about the data collection and the assistance process. He was happy that the Social Service could work well together, providing direction, and input in the data collection process so that the beneficiaries could be right on target. "With good cooperation, I dare to carry out the implementation of BST with PT Pos at the village office, because I believe there will be no demonstrations from the community," said Head of Cibiru Wetan Village.