Meeting KPK, Social Affairs Minister Says Ready to Guard Budget Transparency

JAKARTA (February 6, 2020) - Minister of Social Affairs Juliari P. Batubara received a visit from the leadership of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) led by KPK Chairman Firli Bahuri. To the KPK leadership, the Minister conveyed the real steps of the Ministry of Social Affairs in the corruption prevention agenda.

The Minister revealed that corruption prevention is important to do in line with the increasing trend of the Ministry of Social Affairs budget from year to year. In Fiscal Year 2020, the Ministry of Social Affairs is the K/L with the sixth largest budget, with a budget of IDR62.767 trillion, compared to the FY 2019 budget of IDR58.966 trillion.

"From the 2020 budget, amounting to IDR62.767 trillion, the largest allocation is for social assistance. So we are very open and ready to work together with the KPK to jointly supervise, so that budget management runs transparently and accountably," said Minister Juliari, after meeting with the KPK leadership, at the Ministry of Social Affairs office, Jakarta, Thursday (06/02/2020).

For the 2020 budget, the portion of the budget for social assistance spending amounted to IDR58.089 trillion (around 92.55%). Where social assistance for the Family Hope Program (PKH) amounted to IDR29.129 trillion, and Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT) / Basic Food Assistance amounted to IDR28.080 trillion.

"As of January 2020, the total social assistance budget that has been distributed or disbursed is IDR9.2 trillion. Of course, we are committed so that the distribution of social assistance can be right on target," said the Minister.

In line with the size of the budget, so far it has correlated positively with the results obtained from the policy of accelerating poverty reduction. The Minister of Social Affairs stated that the poverty rate showed a downward trend.

Citing the Statistics Indonesia (BPS) survey in September 2019, the Minister stated that the poverty rate was 9.22%. Previously in the March 2019 BPS survey, the poverty rate was 9.41%.

The Minister also informed the KPK leadership about the budget efficiency and reallocation policy, which Commission VIII of the House of Representatives had given approval and support, in a Working Meeting held yesterday.

Steps to Prevent Corruption

On that occasion, the Minister also explained to the KPK leadership, the real steps of the Ministry of Social Affairs in taking part in strengthening the corruption prevention agenda.

Juliari stated that the Ministry of Social Affairs is serious and acts real in realizing good governance and clean from corruption. The Ministry of Social Affairs pays special attention to the process of supervising social welfare implementation programs, and to public services.

Supervision in these two sectors is carried out with a three-pillar control approach: The Work Unit itself; Internal Supervisory Apparatus (Inspectorate General) and finally the Law Enforcement Apparatus.

KPK Chairman Firli Bahuri stated that his visit was not only for socialization with the formation of five new leaders but also to ensure that the corruption eradication agenda was running well in the Ministry of Social Affairs.

KPK appreciates the Ministry of Social Affairs' steps, especially in preventing corruption, because it is considered to be in line with Presidential Regulation Number 54 of 2018 on the National Strategy for Corruption Prevention.

"As the head of the KPK, I appreciate the Ministry of Social Affairs' steps in preventing corruption, which I think are in line with Presidential Regulation No. 54 of 2018, which emphasizes the prevention of corruption," he said.

KPK also appreciates that the Ministry of Social Affairs has activated a public complaint service, and hopes that this service will continue to be strengthened because it is part of the control mechanism. Firli also emphasized the importance of a systems approach.

"The Minister can strengthen the system to prevent corruption," he said. In the Ministry of Social Affairs' strategy, corruption prevention with the system has been shown, among others, by strengthening the inspectorate general.