House of Representatives Emphasizes Its Support for the Ministry of Social Affairs Budget for FY 2021

JAKARTA (24 September 2020) - Commission VIII of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) held a Working Meeting with the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia with a discussion on Adjustment of Ministry of Social Work Plan and Budget (RKA K/L), a Result of the Discussion of the DPR RI Budget Agency and Actual Issues.

"According to the results of the discussion of the DPR RI Budget Agency, the Ministry of Social Affairs' Budget for the 2021 Budget is Rp. 92,817,590,291,000," said Social Minister Juliari P Batubara at Commission VIII DPR RI Nusantara II Building, Jakarta, Wednesday (23/9/2020).

The Minister of Social Affairs was present accompanied by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Social Affairs Hartono Laras, the Director General, Inspector General, Head of Agency, and related Echelon II officials.

The allocated budget in the Secretariat General Work Unit is Rp. 2,052,314,886,000; Inspectoral General Rp. 33,408,503,000; Directorate General of Social Empowerment Rp. 406,207,360,000; Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation Rp. 1,241,485,787,000;

Also, for the Directorate General of Social Protection and Security is allocated Rp. 30,773,505,300,000; Directorate General of Poverty Handling (FM) Rp. 57,926,152,505,000; Badiklit Pensos Rp. 384,515,950,000, so a total of Rp. 92,817,590,291,000.

Meanwhile, the allocation of 99.21% of non-operational expenditures consisted of goods, capital and social assistance expenditures, 0.55% for personnel expenditures of IDR 511,925,510,000; 0.24% expenditure on operational goods of IDR 220,635,766,000 broken down into social protection of IDR 91,122,985,946,000, and management support of IDR 1,694,604,345,000.

"It is clear that most of the budget posture is used for social protection activities," said Juliari.

The Working Meeting was chaired by the Chairman of Commission VIII DPR RI Yandri Susanto who accommodated various inputs from members both present in the room meeting or through virtual meeting.

Commission VIII DPR RI provided alternative solutions through revision of the current budget for several programs that had yet to be allocated in the Budget Ceiling to strengthen the revitalization of social rehabilitation centers with international standards.

Commission VIII DPR RI also advised to strengthen preparedness (emergency assistance, evacuation equipment, disaster prepared vehicles, disaster preparedness villages and construction of logistics warehouses); Additional social entrepreneurship targets for community economic recovery.

Furthermore, the members also encouraged the strengthening Community Health Centers (Puskesmas) as the spearhead of services, receiving complaints and referrals for the people in need of social services (PPKS); increasing target for renovating inhabitable houses (Rutilahu); strengthening the supervision and accountability of the administration of social welfare; rehabilitating office buildings/structures and infrastructure including preparation of open spaces, support for public relations and publications, human resource management, drafting of laws and regulations and legal assistance.

Apart from that, Ministry of Social Affairs needs to ensure whether the distribution of social assistance is really on target, given the large amount and needs to be supported by an accurate database; also ensure that the implementation of social protection programs, social assistance and other social service programs to measure the outputs and outcomes as well as their benefits which are monitored and evaluated periodically. Also, Ministry of Social Affairs needs to prioritize cash transfer social assistance; as well as encouraging the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs to increase tighter supervision of e-warong in the BPNT/Sembako Program.

Bureau of Public Relations 
Ministry of Social Affairs