Poor still lining up for assistance payments<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta office of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS Jakarta)
\nhas registered over 28,000 new families that may be eligible to
\nbenefit from the government's cash assistance program.<\/p>\n
BPS Jakarta director Sunari Sarwono said over the weekend that his
\noffice would carry out door-to-door checks on 28,130 families to
\ndetermine whether or not they were entitled to receive the cash
\nassistance as they claimed.<\/p>\n
\"Only those who satisfy the set criteria will receive the cash
\npayments,\" Sunari told reporters.<\/p>\n
To ease the impact of last October's fuel price increases, the
\ngovernment introduced the cash-assistance scheme, under which
\npoor families are entitled to receive Rp 100,000 (US$10.20) per
\nmonth for a period of one year.<\/p>\n
The government has set 14 criteria to be used as yardsticks in
\nassessing whether a household is considered poor or not,
\nincluding having a dirt floor in the house, only one meal per
\nday, new clothes only once a year, no permanent job, and maximum
\nspending on health services and education. If a family satisfies
\nat least eight of the criteria, it will be entitled to receive
\nthe payments.<\/p>\n
The government initially allocated sufficient money to pay 15
\nmillion people across the country, but the number of people
\nclaiming to be poor has continued to rise since the first
\ndisbursement was made last October.<\/p>\n
Violent, in some cases even bloody, protests have often
\naccompanied the disbursement of the assistance, prompting the
\ngovernment to reopen registration.<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, some 101,000 families were initially slated to
\nreceive the assistance, but the number has continued to rise
\nsince the first day of disbursement.<\/p>\n
It is not immediately clear where the government will get the
\nmoney to pay those registering late as the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR) earmarked only enough money to pay 15
\nmillion people.<\/p>\n
Sunari said his 250 strong force would verify the information
\nsupplied by the 28,000 newly registered families to determine
\nwhether or not they were eligible for the assistance. He said he
\nhoped the verification process would be completed by Nov. 20.<\/p>\n
\"We hope we can start distributing Fuel Compensation Cards to
\nthose who are eligible early in December so that they can receive
\ntheir money by the end of December,\" he said.<\/p>\n
BPS Jakarta, in cooperation with command posts established by
\nCoordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab at the
\nsubdistrict level, launched an additional registration drive
\nfollowing complaints that it had missed tens of thousands of poor
\nfamilies during the first registration drive.<\/p>\n
Over the weekend, Councillor Hizbiyah Rochim lamented the fact
\nthat BPS Jakarta had missed tens of thousands of poor families
\nduring the first round, thus depriving them of the assistance
\npayments.<\/p>\n
\"We would advise the city administration to involve
\nneighborhood unit heads as these know the circumstances of the
\npeople living around them better than officials from the BPS
\nJakarta,\" Hizbiyah said.<\/p>\n
Newly registered poor households<\/p>\n
South Jakarta 2,511
\nEast Jakarta 9,688
\nCentral Jakarta 4,067
\nWest Jakarta 6,578
\nNorth Jakarta 5,033
\nThousand Islands 253<\/p>\n
Total 28,130<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/poor-still-lining-up-for-assistance-payments-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }