DPR urges Education Ministry to strengthen supervision to prevent extortion in Smart Indonesia Programme

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Muhammad Hilman Mufidi, a member of DPR Commission X, has called on the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) to strengthen oversight mechanisms to prevent illegal levies (pungli) in the implementation of the Smart Indonesia Programme (PIP).

“The Kemendikdasmen must increase oversight to ensure this programme truly reaches its intended beneficiaries,” said Hilman in Jakarta on Monday.

According to him, the government has yet to demonstrate firm action against reports of illegal levies within the PIP scheme.

“Information about illegal levies in the Smart Indonesia Programme has been circulating for a long time. Unfortunately, to date there has been no decisive and comprehensive action from the ministry to root out these rogue elements. This causes tremendous harm to poor communities who should be helped, not exploited,” he said.

“One solution is to strengthen cooperation with regional governments to provide intensive guidance to potential PIP beneficiaries,” said Hilman.

He identified weak administrative literacy among beneficiaries as a key vulnerability enabling illegal levies. Hilman noted that many parents do not understand fund disbursement procedures, leaving them vulnerable to intermediaries or officials who promise convenience in exchange for fees.

“Recipients and parents often do not understand the administrative procedures. As a result, they turn the process over to rogue elements with the potential to commit extortion. If there were official guidance from regional governments or relevant agencies, this potential for illegal levies could be substantially reduced,” he said.

The legislator from East Java revealed that the number of PIP beneficiaries has increased year on year. In 2023, he noted, there were 18.10 million primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary students receiving the programme. This rose to 18.59 million students in 2024 and 18.60 million students in 2025.

“We continue to push for transparency in this programme through strengthened digitalisation, because with beneficiary numbers reaching tens of millions, manual oversight alone will not be sufficient,” said Hilman.