Data collection blunders galore

Data collection blunders galore

From Media Indonesia

Some of the serious problems in the cash aid distribution to the poor were widely reported in the media. The question is: Why were there so many mistakes in preparing the data of the poor entitled to get cash aid?

If we refer to the system applied by the Central Bureau of Statistics in which 20 variables were used as criteria to determine whether a family is extremely poor, nominally poor or very close to the poverty line, it is unlikely that it would have created such disorder.

However, the mismanagement was also a result of inaccurate data given by the respondents. Some families gave false data in order to look like they were poor enough to receive some freebies, thus they became eligible for the cash -- Rp 100,000 a month.

Unfortunately, the government was not quite prepared to operate the system. As a result, inaccuracy in the implementation of the program became unavoidable.

NIKEN INDAR MASTRI Yogyakarta