Social Affairs Minister Wants to Strengthen Synergy with Parliament

JAKARTA (4 November 2019) - Minister of Social Affairs Juliari P. Batubara held a meeting with members of Commission VIII DPR RI. To the people's representatives, the Minister of Social Affairs hopes to continue the partnership that has been running between the two parties so far.

“Let's continue a constructive relationship, mutually reinforcing both in positions as executive and legislative. If our working relationship is good, it is hoped that it will also produce good results, especially for the community," said the Minister of Social Affairs, before members of Commission VIII, in Jakarta, Monday (04/11/2019).

On this occasion, present to accompany the Minister of Social Affairs were Secretary General Hartono Laras, Director General of Social Empowerment Pepen Nazaruddin, Director General of Social Rehabilitation Edi Suharto, Director General of Poor Handling Andi ZA Dulung, Director General of Social Protection and Security Harry Hikmat, and Inspector General Dadang Iskandar.

Also present was Senior Advisor to the Minister for Social Accessibility Sonny W. Manalu, and a number of Echelon II officials from the Ministry of Social Affairs. From Commission VIII, the leadership was present, namely the Chairman of Commission VIII Yandri Susanto, the Deputy Chairmen of the Commission, Ihsan Yunus, Tb. Ace Hasan Syadzily, Moekhlas Sidik, and Marwan Dasopang. As well as around 34 members of Commission VIII.

To the members of the house, the Minister of Social Affairs stressed the importance of both parties sharpening synergy so that the results of both work can have a direct impact on the problems faced by the community.

The Minister of Social Affairs also hopes that Commission VIII can share his opinion on the direction of social welfare development policies in the future. As often stated, the Minister of Social Affairs emphasized again that he did not want the Ministry of Social Affairs to be synonymous with distributing aid.

"I often say that I didn't come just to give out social assistance. In the future, I hope that the budget for the social assistance program will decrease. That is, if there are fewer social assistance, it means that the impact of social assistance is effective in increasing the welfare of KPM. So more and more beneficiaries are 'graduating'," said the Minister of Social Affairs.

The Minister of Social Affairs also explained that what he meant by reducing the social assistance budget did not mean that the overall budget for the Ministry of Social Affairs was reduced. "The budget remains the same, but we are shifting it to social empowerment posts. It's impossible for us to continue to provide a budget and then the number of poor people does not go down or lower. Yes, it must be decreased," said the Minister of Social Affairs.

The task of reducing the poverty rate, said the Minister of Social Affairs, was not solely the task of the Ministry of Social Affairs. Broader synergy is needed with all stakeholders, including cooperation between the government and the DPR. "Therefore, in the future we need to strengthen the synergy to ensure a positive impact on the people," said the Minister of Social Affairs.

The Minister of Social Affairs asked the DPR to get rid of differences, and unite similarities. “In that way, we will be better at building the nation. We also expect support and input from Commission VIII," he said. The Minister of Social Affairs' invitation to work together was welcomed by the Chairman of Commission VIII Yandri Susanto. He agreed, great work for the people, requires the cooperation of all parties, including the Ministry of Social Affairs and Commission VIII. "So the great work of the Minister of Social Affairs for the poor must be supported. We are ready to support the work program of the Minister of Social Affairs. Please tell us what great work the Minister has done to us," said Yandri.


Acting Head of Public Relations Bureau of the Indonesian Ministry of Social Affairs

Sonny W Manalu