Ministry of Social Affairs Involves Nation Element for Mutual Assistance in Distributing Groceries

JAKARTA (May 1st, 2020) – Ministry of Social Affairs accelerates the distribution of basic supplies in the capital area by involving various elements of the nation, such as TNI and Youth Organization.

As seen in one of the logistic warehouses in the East Jakarta area, as many as 30 TNI personnel from the Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) and the Marines were deployed to help with the loading process.

“In accordance with the instruction of the President, Mr. Joko Widodo, we, as citizens, work hand in hand, especially to speed up the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. We, from the TNI, have been deployed to speed up the distribution of logistics to people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak,” said the Platoon Commander (Danton) from the Kostrad Yonbekang 1 unit, the First Lieutenant (Lettu) CBA Riko Budi Effendi, Thursday night (30/4).

Riko admitted that the TNI also deployed distribution team that is in charge of distributing the President’s basic food assistance directly to Kelurahan, RT/RW, until the assistance reached the recipients.

“The aid that arrives there will be picked up or awaited by the local people,” he said.

The involvement of TNI personnel is carried out in order to quicken the distribution of basic supplies to 1.3 million families in DKI Jakarta and 600 thousand families in Bodetabek.

Meanwhile, in RW 02 Kelurahan Serdang, Kecamatan Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, the distribution of basic supplies is assisted by the local Youth Organization, each basic supplies are delivered by relay from a truck owned by PT Pos Indonesia to be distributed to the recipients’ address.

“Later, we will use the help of members from the Youth Organization and RW administrator to distribute,” said the Head of RW 02 Kelurahan Serdang, Muflikhun, while overseeing the reception of basic supplies for his area.

He said that the basic supplies packages arrived in quite large quantities, so he expressed his gratitude and hoped that all of them could be distributed correctly.

“On behalf of the people of RW 02 Kelurahan Serdang, we are thankful for the President’s assistance given to our residents, in which the assistance for RW 02 area is quite a lot this time, around 463 packages, hopefully all of them can be distributed later,” he said.

One of the assistance recipients from RT 16, Fatimah, told the story of her family’s sluggish economy due to being prohibited from opening her stalls, which have become her main source of income since the COVID-19 outbreak rapidly broke out.

“I sell clothes on the (side) of the road, but because we are currently undergoing PSBB (Large Scale Social Restriction), it is prohibited. Even if it is open, they asked me to close it again. So, it’s almost a month, I can’t work. The income is not enough, there is no income,” she said.

However, she still tries to support her family for her family’s daily meals.

“I save money, I usually eat vegetables, but now let’s say there is only fish. If I eat vegetables, the side dishes is simple, tempeh or tofu, that’s all. No matter how, we will work it out,” she explained.

By handing over the food package to Fatimah that afternoon, it made her continuously expressed her gratitude. She felt helped because the assistance was able to reduce the burden of life she was bearing.

“Alhamdulillah, thank you Mr. President, it can reduce the burden on my (family) life. Suppose I should’ve bought rice today, but I don’t need to buy it anymore for the next week, I will use the rice that I got from the assistance,” she said emotionally.

In order for the social assistance to be on target, the Social Affairs Minister, Juliari P. Batubara, urged local authorities to play an active role in overseeing the distribution of basic food assistance. “Pak RT and Pak RW know best about the condition of their people. Therefore, it is mandatory to involve RT/RW, kelurahan, kecamatan, and provincial government so that the distribution of the assistance is really on target,” he said.

Juliari revealed that the Ministry of Social Affairs provided a complaint service contact number, “If people find problems with the social assistance from the Ministry of Social Affairs that are misdirected, embezzlement, or illegal fees, they can immediately report to the Ministry of Social Affairs hotline number 0811 10 222 10 or via email bansoscovid19@kemsos.go.id. However, I need to emphasize that this hotline is not a hotline for registration of social assistance recipients,” said the Minister.