Ministry of Social Affairs to Immediately Launch 1.8 Million Special Assistance from the President

JAKARTA (April 11st 2020) - The Ministry of Social Affairs will soon launch Special Presidential assistance to 1.8 Million families in the Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) areas.

"So, what we are sending from Kalibata is for basic foods that are temporary in nature, waiting for the social assistance that the President ordered for Jabodetabek as many as 1.8 Million packages for 1.8 Million families, which, Insha Allah, will be distributed in less than two weeks," said the Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara in Kalibata, Saturday (11/4).

The Ministry has opened a Public Kitchen to prepare food for residents affected by Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19).

"So, what we are doing here from the 7th, we have the delivery of basic food and there is Disaster Preparedness Cadets (Tagana) making a public kitchen to make rice boxes, especially for communities such as daily workers," said the PDIP politician.

The Minister of Social Affairs reviewed the Public Kitchen organized by the Directorate General of Social Protection and Security at the Kalibata National Heroes Cemetery (TMPN) Convention Building, South Jakarta. During the visit, he was accompanied by the Advisor for the Dharma Wanita Persatuan (DWP) of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Grace Batubara, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Hartono Laras and the Director General of Social Protection and Security, Pepen Nazaruddin.

So, continued the Minister of Social Affairs, we have prepared here 200 thousand food packages to 300 thousand food packages. Meanwhile, about 40 thousand have been distributed, we will spend it until April 20th.

In distributing food and basic food, the Ministry of Social Affairs involves the Regional Government (Pemda) of DKI Jakarta, in this case the Social Services Agency, to prepare data on potential recipients, then coordinated with the Ministry of Social Affairs for assistance.

"Data collection on basic food recipients is not from us, but we ask for it from the Social Services Agency, Social Services Agency Sub-department, so based on that data, we allocate it. Once again, the data is not from us", explained the father of two children.

For the distribution of basic foods, the Ministry of Social Affairs involves the Social Services Agency Sub-department, because local government who understand the data, "So that we don't duplicate data, there is no ‘wara-wiri’ (chaotic), so we get the data then we allocate it, distribute it together with the Social Office for each region," said Ari who was a former member of the DPR for two periods.

To anticipate data problems on basic food assistance recipients, for residents who feel they have not registered, the Minister of Social Affairs suggests coordinating with the local government.

"Please register yourself to the local governmenta. We do not accept registration for the recipients of the basic food assistance. So, all the databases are from the local government, if we accept it, it will be chaotic. Later, the social assistance for basic needs and cash assistance outside Jabodetabek is all collected from the regions to the Ministry of Social Affairs. We will match it later, then we will agree for this area, so for this area," explained the Minister of Social Affairs.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Social Protection and Security, Pepen Nazaruddin, said that today (Saturday), the Ministry of Social Affairs prepared 9,800 boxes of food and food packages to be distributed to residents affected by COVID-19 in five areas of DKI Jakarta.

"Each food box contains rice, beef, vegetables, eggs, fruit and one bottle of mineral water," said Pepen.

Initially, continued Pepen, we involved 70 Tagana people, but because the demand continued to increase, starting today, 55 Tagana people are added.

"So, the total number is 125 people, only those who are in charge of preparing food in the public kitchen to put it in the box," said Pepen.