Coordinating Minister Muhaimin: Empowerment is key, the state must be present for the people
Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar has said the state’s presence for the public must be realised through policies that provide social protection while also encouraging people to rise, become self-reliant, and secure a better future.
“Empowerment must be a complete process. Social protection ensures people do not fall deeper, while empowerment opens the way for people to rise, become independent, and have a better future,” Muhaimin Iskandar said after attending the 2026 Annual Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly and the Joint Session of the Regional Representatives Council and the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Friday.
According to him, this spirit is in line with President Prabowo Subianto’s speech, which affirmed the government’s commitment to bringing the state into the midst of society and accelerating the resolution of various people’s problems.
The government, according to the President, is guided by the mandate of the 1945 Constitution, the national interest and the people’s prosperity, the acceleration of resolving people’s difficulties, and the interests of the people and future generations.
“This republic was not founded so that the state merely exists; this republic was founded so that the people will never feel alone, so that the people feel the government is by their side,” the President said.
One manifestation of this commitment is the Sekolah Rakyat (People’s School) Programme.
The President said the government has opened 84 permanent People’s Schools to provide access to quality education for children from poor and extremely poor families.
People’s Schools are designed as boarding schools that provide formal education, character education, accommodation, and the fulfilment of basic needs.
The programme is part of efforts to break the chain of poverty through human resource development.
Meanwhile, in the health sector, the President said the Free Health Check Programme has reached 108 million people and is available at 10,255 community health centres across 38 provinces.
The government is also building and upgrading hospitals in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions, and covering National Health Insurance contributions for 96.8 million underprivileged citizens.
The digitalisation of social protection is also being expanded to improve targeting accuracy and transparency.
Digital registration for the Family Hope Programme has been running in 153 regencies/cities across 38 provinces, with more than three million families registered.
Coordinating Minister Muhaimin Iskandar stressed that these various programmes need to be coordinated in an integrated manner so that government interventions do not operate in silos and their benefits are increasingly felt by the public.
“The presence of the state must ultimately be felt in the daily lives of the people, especially those who need it most,” he said.