Central Java Social Agency Acknowledges Errors in Decile Rankings Not Matching Reality

The Secretary of the Social Agency (Dinsos) of Central Java Province, Isriadi Widodo, has reviewed and accepted public complaints from residents who say their decile rankings do not match their economic conditions. He acknowledged that in several cases surveyed directly, the decile ranking of the residents concerned was indeed not precise.

“Indeed, we have several times found complaints that did not match, and we then conducted field surveys,” Isriadi said when interviewed about the many residents’ complaints regarding the inaccuracy of decile rankings compared with their economic conditions, Thursday (27/8/2026).

He added that after following up on complaints and reviewing the field directly, Dinsos Jateng did find inaccuracies in the placement of residents in the decile order. “There are several cases that indeed did not match the actual conditions,” he said.

Isriadi revealed that in one case, there was a resident who occupied a decent and good house. However, because his wife was seriously ill and needed medical treatment costs, the house was eventually sold.

“But the buyer still allowed the person concerned to continue living in the house. Even though he also still has a child whose disability condition requires intensive treatment, so it requires large costs,” he said.

According to Isriadi, the resident only works as a seller of refilled drinking water. “Yesterday, Alhamdulillah, we tried to update the data and expressed gratitude that currently there is social assistance that the person concerned can receive,” he said.

Isriadi added that poor or underprivileged families whose decile rankings are incorrect can report to the Family Hope Programme (PKH) facilitators at their respective sub-district offices. Regarding how many residents in Central Java have incorrect decile placements, Isriadi admitted that he does not yet have that data.

He said that collecting data on residents’ socio-economic conditions is indeed not easy. “Data is indeed not easy. This process is quite complex. And there are many things that require assessment processes, both from BPS and various relevant ministries. So this is purely centralised,” he said.

According to Isriadi, relevant agencies in the regions can only bridge the data collection process. However, he also hopes that the public can be honest and open in conveying their economic conditions. This is because the results of the data collection will determine whether they are eligible to receive social assistance or not.

“Because the state budget is indeed limited. If the provision of social assistance is not adjusted to the conditions of need in the community, the government budget will not be sufficient. So there needs to be a priority for who is entitled to be intervened, and that priority scale is needed through this decile system,” Isriadi said.