Finance Minister Purbaya Targets DTSEN Improvements Next Year After Decile Misclassification

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has responded to public complaints about many low-income people being classified in deciles 9 and 10. Purbaya assured that the government is improving the National Socio-Economic Single Data (DTSEN) to make aid distribution more accurate.

Purbaya revealed that his ministry has allocated a substantial budget to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) for this purpose. The total budget for DTSEN and the census this year reached slightly above Rp7 trillion.

“They asked for additional budget at the beginning of the year, and we fulfilled it to ensure DTSEN is good. So next year it should be better. If one or two errors occur, that is usually always the case in surveys. But I hope next year it will be neater,” Purbaya said at the Ministry of Finance office in Central Jakarta on Wednesday (26/8).

The issue of decile accuracy is crucial given the government’s plan to restrict subsidised Pertalite fuel. The programme is intended to target upper-class households in deciles 9 and 10. Purbaya stressed that the restriction system is still being prepared and will only be implemented once it is truly ready.

Responding to cases of decile misclassification in the field, the Finance Minister said special handling would be carried out. “If there is a problem, say it has not yet reached the new DTSEN, we will handle it case by case,” he explained.

Previously, sharp criticism came from the President of the All-Indonesia Workers’ Union Association (Aspirasi), Mirah Sumirat. She reported that many workers whose economic conditions remained the same or even worsened had their decile positions rise in the system.

Mirah expressed concern that inaccurate decile changes would remove the names of poor people from the list of social assistance (bansos) recipients. She urged the government to ensure the data system does not harm people in need.

“Do not let the poor be defeated by numbers and defeated by the system,” Mirah stressed in her statement on Monday (24/8).