Ministry of Social Affairs Adds 100,000 Packages of Grocery and Food for Residents Affected by COVID-19

JAKARTA (April 13rd 2020) - The Ministry of Social Affairs has increased the number of packages of basic food and ready-to-eat food by 100,000 to 300,000 packages for poor people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in DKI Jakarta.

The Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara explained that this additional basic food aid is an instruction from President Joko Widodo to ease the burden on the poverty in DKI Jakarta.

“We reported to the President the conditions in the field regarding the number of residents who needed assistance. The President decided to increase the amount of aid by 100,000 basic food packages,” said the Minister of Social Affairs in Jakarta, Monday (13/4).

The Minister of Social Affairs said that the additional budget for basic food packages distributed to the public came from a budget reallocation at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

"In accordance with the direction of the President, hopefully that with this assistance, they will get support for their daily needs. Thus, their desire to return to their hometown is reduced. This is also a form of #KemensosHADIR in the midst of a community affected by the disaster," said the politician from PDIP.

The Minister of Social Affairs hopes that all entrepreneurs can provide assistance to the community to ease their burden, as did the Media Nusantara Citra (MNC) Group by providing 5,000 basic food packages to the affected DKI residents.

The assistance from MNC Group was handed over directly to the Executive Chairman of MNC, Hari Tanoesoedibjo, to Minister of Social Affairs Juliari P. Batubara at the Ministry of Social Affairs, today (13/4).

"Thank you to MNC for their assistance. I invite the business world to help reduce the burden on our brothers who are most affected because the economic situation is very heavy. We, who have more capabilities, both from the business world or foundations outside the government, we are very welcome. We hope that we can support, especially from MNC Group," said the Minister of Social Affairs.

The Minister of Social Affairs also hopes that all media can disseminate physical distancing to the public so that the spread of COVID-19 can be suppressed.

MNC's basic food assistance, called Juliari, will be distributed together with the Ministry of Social Affairs basic needs assistance.

The mechanism for distributing the aid, according to the Minister of Social Affairs, is carried out through the Social Services Agency (Sudinsos) in each area in DKI Jakarta.

"Later, the spearhead will be with the Social Service Agency Sub-dept because they already have the data of the kelurahan from the RT / RW. Those who are ODP, PDP, informal sector workers, daily workers, taxi drivers, online motorcycle taxis, they are our target," said the former chairman of the two-term IMI.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Social Protection and Security at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Pepen Nazaruddin, said that the Ministry of Social Affairs had distributed 42,308 packages of groceries and 65,899 ready-to-eat meals.

"We have distributed all of the aid since April 7th throughout the Jakarta area," said Pepen.

Pepen added that the aid that was distributed from the soup kitchen was a backing from the Ministry of Social Affairs before the President's assistance came down.

At least, these activities are planned to be carried out until April 20th.

Furthermore, Pepen admitted that he had coordinated with the Head of the Jabotabek Service to provide basic food assistance. For this reason, the Ministry of Social Affairs is currently waiting for the number of aid recipients from them.

"We have had a meeting with them, how much should they help in Bogor, Bogor Regency, Tangerang City, Tangerang Regency, Bekasi City, Bekasi Regency and South Tangerang City," continued Pepen.

In addition to providing assistance to Jabotabek, the government also provides assistance to all poor families in Indonesia.