Coordinating Minister: Government Communication Was Chaotic During BPJS Controversy

Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment Muhaimin Iskandar, commonly known as Cak Imin, admitted there were serious flaws in the government’s public communication during the furore over the deactivation of 11 million recipients of subsidised health insurance contributions (PBI-JK). He made the remarks at a forum on the Optimisation of National Health Insurance Programme Implementation in Jakarta, broadcast online on Monday, 23 February 2026.

According to him, the poor communication was evident in how relevant ministries and agencies appeared to shift responsibility to one another when waves of protest arose over the BPJS Kesehatan PBI deactivations.

“The final conclusion from yesterday is that our public communication was chaotic,” said Cak Imin. “The BPJS director said the key lay with the Ministry of Social Affairs, then the Ministry of Social Affairs pointed to BPS [Statistics Indonesia], and in the end I blamed BPS as well,” Muhaimin said.

The chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said the episode must serve as an evaluation for the government to improve. The first step, he argued, must begin with data transparency among ministries and state agencies.

Muhaimin explained that BPS had reported difficulties accessing the medical histories of PBI participants managed by BPJS Kesehatan. “But thankfully, everything was resolved behind closed doors,” he said.

Previously, on 2 February, the Ministry of Social Affairs deactivated 11 million PBI-JK recipients as part of a data updating exercise. The sudden change in beneficiary data sparked controversy, particularly after some 200 dialysis patients were reportedly denied treatment because their PBI membership had been deactivated.

Following the public outcry, the government decided to postpone the collection of contributions from the 11 million former PBI-JK recipients. A three-month transition period was granted for affected individuals to lodge objections if they disagreed with their deactivation, or to make arrangements to switch to self-funded contributions.