Minister of Social Affairs Distributes 190 Thousand Basic Food in Bekasi

BEKASI (May 9th, 2020) – The Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara, handed over basic assistance to the people of Bekasi City, Saturday (9/5).

"There are about 190 thousand basic food packages at this stage, there will be 6 stages. The Bekasi City Government itself also provides 75 thousand basic food packages," said Juliari while handing over the basic food in Bekasi City.

The Ministry of Social Affairs officially started the distribution of the first phase of basic food assistance to areas outside DKI Jakarta, namely Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (Bodetabek) on May 7th and will continue for the next three months with two distributions every month.

Moreover, the Minister stated the assistance to be received by Bodetabek residents in six stages, "DKI is finished, right now, residents in DKI are given rice, while phase one for Bodetabek is basic food. From 6 stages, there will be 4 stages of basic food, 2 times rice—Bulog rice," he explained again.

The Social Affairs Minister, Juliari, handed over the basic needs assistance directly to residents in RW 023 Kampung Pulo Kecil, Kayuringin Jaya, and RW 04 Komplek Jaka Kencana, Jakasetia Village, South Bekasi District, Bekasi City. On this occasion, the Minister appreciated the Bekasi City Government (Pemkot)'s quick action in providing basic food assistance.

"I see a very positive thing done by the Bekasi City Government, it is that during the implementation of the PSBB (Large-Scale Social Restrictions) yesterday, the Bekasi City Government immediately provided assistance in the form of basic food packages in April, and stickers were given to houses that had received basic necessities," said the Minister of Social Affairs.

According to the Minister, this is a very good example for other local governments, by putting stickers on residents' houses, it indicates that they have received basic food assistance.

Meanwhile, when asked about the data that is often one-sided, the Minister of Social Affairs responded, "Yesterday was only stage one, we are still making improvements, for example when delivering directly like this, we will find out the inputs from the residents," he said, agreed by the Vice Mayor of Bekasi.

Accompanied by the Director General of Social Protection and Security, Pepen Nazaruddin, and the Vice Mayor of Bekasi, Tri Adhianto, the Minister of Social Affairs went down one alley to another in order to directly deliver the basic food to residents in need.

Some residents were lucky that the Minister of Social Affairs delivered their food directly to their homes, one of them was Arofah (35). A resident of RW 04 Komplek Jaka Kencana, who switched to selling fritters since the COVID-19 outbreak, was happy after receiving basic food from the Minister of Social Affairs. "Alhamdulillah, I am very grateful, hopefully, Allah will return your kindness," she said, saying a prayer.