TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) found that the government’s pre-employment card program - which was introduced as a government assistance program to help people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic - is actually saturated with issues.

KPK claims 8 digital platforms were taken into the program’s partnership through an incorrect procurement mechanism that goes against existing regulations and opened suspicions of conflict of interest from 5 out of 8 of the platforms.

According to the KPK, 250 training programs from a total of 1,895 available in the package have a conflict of interests with a number of digital platforms.

KPK deputy chair Alexander Marwata said the main issue grabbing the attention of the anti-graft watchdog is related to the registration process. Marwata said the majority of applicants do not come from workers who were laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic’s mass-layoffs.

“The fact is that there is only a small portion of workers laid-off who registered online,” said the KPK deputy.

The majority of applicants, which constitute 9.4 million people, come from those targeted by the government, and leave only 143,000 from 1.7 million who were laid-off and benefited from the pre-employment card.

KPK’s deputy of enforcement Pahala Nainggolan also highlighted the use of face recognition technology in the program’s online feature does not perform as expected even though the recognition tech cost the government Rp30.8 billion. The subjects used in the training, KPK said, are a problem as 89 percent of it is already widely available online and is free.

Read: KPK Alleges Conflict of Interest in Pre-employment Card Program

AVIT HIDAYAT