TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The embezzlement of social assistance shows there are fundamental weaknesses with the protection offered to the poor in Indonesia. It is proof of the lack of commitment from the government and from the party that claims to care about the little people.

THE revelations of new names involved in the embezzlement of social assistance from the social affairs ministry show the shambolic state of the bureaucracy and the moral bankruptcy of public officials in Indonesia. Perhaps this is the only country where funds for poor people are stolen by the political elite. Ironically, the main perpetrators come from the party in power, the very political party which claims that it arose from among the little people.

In the last two weeks, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators have been working hard to uncover the involvement of two members of the House of Representatives (DPR) from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P): Herman Hery and Ihsan Yunus. Their offices, homes, and a number of companies believed to be affiliated with them have been searched by law enforcement officers. The quick action by the KPK to follow up the confession of former social affairs minister, Juliari Peter Batubara, who is already a suspect, in this case, deserves support.

Herman and Ihsan are no ordinary politicians. Herman is the chairman of the DPR Law Commission, the partner of the law enforcers in the legislature, while Ihsan is the deputy chairman of the DPR Social Commission, the body that should oversee the work of the social affairs ministry. Both of them are also important men within the PDI-P leadership.

Herman and Ihsan played a significant role in the embezzlement of the social assistance. They are alleged to have obtained the majority of the contracts for the supply of goods in the 12 assistance stages with a total value of Rp3.4 trillion. In other words, fully half of the Rp6.8 trillion social assistance budget for Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi came into their hands. The remainder is said to have been controlled by Juliari.

Their method was simple: Herman and Ihsan are suspected to have borrowed the names of a number of companies in exchange for tempting payments. After they obtained the quotas to supply social assistance, the value of the groceries in each packet was reduced. The business players who allowed the names of their companies to be used this way must also face suitable punishment.

While the investigation is continuing, Herman and Ihsan must be suspended from the DPR. This would send a clear signal of their party's commitment to fighting corruption. As the winner of the last two elections, the PDI-P must set an example of clean governance. Allowing these two men to remain in the DPR will make things difficult for the KPK and also cause people to suspect that this corruption had the blessing of the party leadership.

There are also indications that Herman tried to obstruct the enforcement of the law by making use of his position and authority in the DPR. Without political support, it will be almost impossible for the KPK to unravel this case from top to bottom, including investigating reports of the involvement of politicians more powerful than Herman.

The move by the new social affairs minister, Tri Rismaharini, to change the distribution scheme of the social assistance from packets of staple goods to cash transfers deserves support. This new method of providing assistance in the form of cash by bank transfers or other methods should be rolled out across Indonesia, not just in the capital city.

And Minister Risma must not stop there. She must also abandon the charitable data-style of distributing assistance that treats poor people as little more than powerless objects. She must not continue with the Santa Claus way of providing assistance that is only good for the image of politicians but does little to change the structural poverty in this nation.

Of course, this type of fundamental change must start from President Joko Widodo. The government's siding with the poor must be apparent from the drawing up of the State Budget. It is difficult to believe that the President is sincere about reducing the rate of poverty when the budget for the social affairs ministry in 2020 is only Rp62.77 trillion, far less than the Rp131 trillion allocated to the ministry of defense. Although following the pandemic, social assistance funds were increased to Rp124.7 trillion, this is still less than the budget for the ministry led by Prabowo Subianto.

This imbalance is even more obvious if we look at the funding for the ministry of health, which is at the forefront of dealing with the pandemic, and which was only allocated Rp84.3 trillion this year despite the fact that this ministry requires considerable funding if it is to succeed in bringing Covid-19 under control.

Only repugnant thieves would be willing to steal social assistance funds and to see poor people, the elderly and people with disabilities as a group of weak fools whose rights can simply be taken away at any time. The small budget allocation and their disparaging opinion of impoverished people is proof of any politicians' lack of commitment towards the little people. Without a fundamental change in this regard, embezzlement of funds for the poor will more likely continue.

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