JAKARTA (April 28th 2020) - 306 food packages from the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo arrived at Cempaka Baru Village, Kemayoran District, Central Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon (28/4). To ensure that the basic necessities reach the right people, the head of RW 04 Cempaka Baru supervised the process of distributing the basic necessities to residents' homes.

The head of RW 04 Cempaka baru, Suganjar, revealed that in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak, the central government paid attention to its residents who were experiencing economic difficulties. He considered the assistance from the central government to be very satisfying because the volume was more than the others.

"We are very grateful for the policy of Mr. President to help our residents in RW 04 because it looks quite satisfying with a larger volume than the others, this is good news for us," he said while accompanying officers to distribute groceries to residents.

As it is known that the Ministry of Social Affairs is accelerating the process of distributing the basic food assistance. The distribution was carried out in stages six times to 1.9 million households affected by COVID-19 in the Jabodetabek area until June.

In order to social assistance to be on target, the Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara, urged local authorities to play an active role in overseeing the distribution of basic food aid. "Pak RT and Pak RW know best about the condition of their residents. Therefore, involving RT / RW, sub-district to the provincial government must be done so that the aid distributed is really on target," he appealed.

Juliari said that the Ministry of Social Affairs provides a contact number for the complaint service, "If people find social assistance problems from the Ministry of Social Affairs that are wrongly targeted, fraud occurs, or illegal fees, they can immediately report to the Ministry of Social Assistance Hotline Number 0811 10 222 10, or they can also go through  email at bansoscovid19@kemsos.go.id. However, I emphasize that this is not a hotline for registration of social assistance recipients, " said the Minister of Social Affairs.

Meanwhile, three residents who received aid from different RTs expressed their anxiety after this tragedy. The three of them admitted that the impact of COVID-19 had a profound effect on their survival.

Wiwik (45), a resident of RT 08, complained that she could not go anywhere to meet family needs since this crisis. However, thanks to the assistance she received, she is grateful that she won't have to be confused about buying groceries for some time to come.

"Thinking about the effect, the fast is coming, then how to get there (grocery store), can't go anywhere, then someone gave a little, there was help from the President too, basic food assistance. I am certainly happy, thank God, at least a month I did not buy groceries, " she explained.

The same thing happened to Jumain (63), who works as a security guard at RW 04 on a daily basis. He expressed his gratitude for getting the basic needs assistance.

"Alhamdulillah, there is assistance from the President to reduce our shortcomings.  Usually there is income from passing cars, every day, someone likes to give money for cigarettes, but since there was (the outbreak), no citizen's car came in and out (gate), " he said.

The same goes for the groceries recipient from RT 06, Sri Lestari (35). The woman who sells snacks through her self-service shop admits that she is only able to earn IDR 20.000 to 30.000 thousand rupiah from what previously was able to earn IDR 100.000 thousand rupiah per day.

"Before Corona was there, at least a day could get 100 thousand from selling snacks for children (school). Now the school are off, so there is no income. Nearly 80% (decrease), at least 20 thousand 30 thousand are the biggest, can make food, " she said with a languid bow.

She is grateful for the basic food he receives, which she calls a complete package, so it is very useful to support his family's daily food needs.

"Alhamdulillah, it is like saying that we get basic food supplies from the President, we can make daily meals, it's already complete, we can already help with this epidemic, thank you for your help, sir, our family has received (groceries),"  she said happily.