Home Affairs Minister: Accurate Population Data Key to Targeted Social Assistance
Minister of Home Affairs Muhammad Tito Karnavian has affirmed that accurate population data is the primary foundation for delivering well-targeted social assistance (bansos). He asserted that problems of mistargeted aid can be resolved through the integration of accurate and verified population data.
“With this system, we can determine far more precisely and accurately who is eligible to receive social assistance and who is not,” Tito said in a written statement on Tuesday (4/8/2026).
He made the remarks while giving directives to officials of the Biak Numfor Regency Government at the Regent’s Office Complex in Brambaken, Samofa District, on Friday (31/7).
Tito further explained that the data update would focus on people in the first to fourth income deciles. This group is the priority recipient of various government social protection programmes. According to him, the use of biometric data will improve the accuracy of determining beneficiaries while minimising the potential for distribution errors.
Biak Numfor is one of the national priority areas for the expansion of the Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE), which is targeted to be operational before mid-August 2026. Tito therefore asked all regional officials, village apparatus and Posyandu cadres to actively support the data updating process to be carried out by technical teams in the field.
During the visit, Director of Population Administration Information Management (PIAK) Muhammad Nuh Al Azhar led a kick-off meeting on the digitalisation of social assistance with the Biak Numfor Regency Government. He emphasised the importance of regional governments preparing companion agents who will spearhead the data collection of prospective social assistance recipients.
“The success of social assistance digitalisation depends not only on the applications or technology used, but above all on the quality of the population data that underpins it,” Nuh said.
Nuh also reminded all companion agents to ensure that every piece of data gathered from the public is accurate, up to date and has undergone a validation process. According to him, the population data managed by the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) is the single identity reference that forms the foundation of the Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE) as well as the main reference for various public services, including the distribution of social assistance.
Nuh said that the use of the National Identity Number (NIK), combined with biometric verification, enables beneficiary validation to be carried out with greater precision, thereby minimising duplicate data, fictitious identities and recipients who no longer meet the criteria.
He further affirmed that Dukcapil will continue to strengthen collaboration with regional governments through the provision of secure data, technical assistance and the use of the Population Administration Information System (SIAK) Dashboard to support continuous data updates.
“The digitalisation of social assistance is not merely about converting manual processes into digital ones, but about building a public service ecosystem based on a single set of population data,” Nuh said.
Nuh considered that the consistent use of population data as a reference across agencies would result in public services that are faster, more precise, more efficient, transparent and accountable.
As a follow-up to the visit, Dukcapil and the Biak Numfor Regency Government held a technical class for officials from the Population and Civil Registration Office, the Social Affairs Office and the Communications and Informatics Office. Dozens of participants were designated as social assistance digitalisation agents and received direct assistance in operating the beneficiary registration application via smartphone.
In addition to the training, Dukcapil also handed over various forms of technical support to the Biak Numfor Regency Government. These included low-earth-orbit satellite-based VSAT Starlink equipment, encrypted by name by address (BNBA) data along with its descriptive guidelines, and access to the SIAK Dashboard to support real-time monitoring and updating of population data.
For information, the Home Affairs Minister’s working visit to Biak Numfor Regency in Papua lasted three days, from Friday (31/7/2026) to Sunday (2/8/2026).
During the visit, the Minister was accompanied by Muhammad Nuh Al Azhar, Director of Population Administration Information Management (PIAK) at the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil), Ministry of Home Affairs.
Their presence was not merely ceremonial, but part of the government’s efforts to accelerate the implementation of the Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE) while strengthening the use of biometric population data as the basis for determining social assistance recipients.