'Jamal's Story': Elderly Man from Aceh Tamiang Rises Again with Wooden Shop Funded by Social Assistance
In a wooden shop near the independent temporary housing (Huntara) in Rantau Panjang Village, Karang Baru Subdistrict, Aceh Tamiang, Muhammad Jamal and Baiti are rearranging their lives after a major flood struck at the end of November 2025. The capital to open the vegetable and staple goods stall was gathered from all the social assistance they received.
Jamal recounted that his family received various forms of social assistance. Starting with Housing Contents Assistance (BIH) and Social Economic Stimulus Assistance (BSSE) totalling Rp8 million, as well as Life Guarantee (Jadup) assistance of Rp4.05 million for three months. The total assistance amounted to Rp12.05 million.
“That money we used to buy furniture, sales capital, and daily necessities,” the 67-year-old man told Tempo on Monday, 27 April 2026. From that shop, his wife, Baiti, sells vegetables, staples, and morning breakfast for schoolchildren. Although the income is not as large as before, Jamal admitted it is sufficient to help with the family’s daily needs.
According to him, the daily turnover reaches Rp700,000. From the staple goods stall Rp300,000, and selling lontong for morning breakfast Rp400,000.
The regular customers at Jamal’s shop are from the surrounding village residents who suffered the same fate, mostly living in independent Huntara. Jamal’s shop opens from 6:00 a.m. until evening around 8:00 p.m. With that turnover rotation, it is estimated that the capital from social assistance will be recouped in four months.
Before the flood, rice fields and rubber gardens were their sources of livelihood. However, their land spanning 17 rante or about 6,000 square metres is now buried in mud. Meanwhile, their rubber garden in Alue Lhok Village was hit by a landslide. “Now our mainstay for living is only from this shop,” said Baiti.
Besides the shop, they also live in a 4x6 metre Huntara built by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) since March. Their house is still severely damaged and has not been repaired. Mud still covers part of the building. Baiti hopes the government will soon build permanent housing (Huntap) so that affected residents can return to a decent life. “If it’s hot during the day, it’s cold at night here,” said the 60-year-old woman.
Jamal and Baiti’s story is one of thousands portraying residents affected by the flood in Aceh Tamiang who have received government social assistance in stages. As the verification and data collection process progresses, the distribution of assistance to disaster-affected areas in Sumatra shows an increase compared to early April 2026.
The Rapid Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Task Force (Satgas PRR) report notes that the value of Jadup distribution in several regions increased significantly by the end of April. In North Aceh, for example, the Jadup value jumped from Rp3.1 billion on 2 April to Rp21.3 billion on 27 April.
Several regions that had not yet been realised on 2 April also changed drastically. In Aceh Singkil, for instance, assistance has been disbursed at Rp3.12 billion for 2,314 people. In Southeast Aceh, assistance reached Rp1.51 billion for 1,125 people. In Gayo Lues, assistance began to be disbursed at Rp648 million for 480 people, and in South Pesisir, West Sumatra, it reached Rp608 million for 451 people.
Overall, the value of Jadup assistance in disaster-affected areas of Sumatra increased from Rp272.64 billion in early April to around Rp367.25 billion by the end of April 2026, or up 34.7%.
In addition to the increase in distribution, the coverage of recipient areas has also expanded. Several regions that previously were not on the recipient list, such as Bireuen in Aceh as well as Langkat and Sibolga in North Sumatra, have started receiving assistance after field assessment and verification processes were carried out by the government.
The addition of the number of assistance aligns with the statement of the Head of Satgas PRR, Tito Karnavian, that distribution is based on field data so that assistance truly reaches the affected community. The data collection process is carried out in layers starting from local governments, Forkopimda, to verification by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
“The speed in providing assistance, whether for damaged houses, individuals, furniture, food money, and also economic stimuli, uses a bottom-up mechanism from data collection by district/city governments,” Tito said in his statement on Tuesday, 14 April 2026.
This process has yielded real results in the field. The Acting Head of the Aceh Tamiang Social Service Office, Ahmad Yani, said that the first phase of social assistance distribution currently targets 7,575 household heads or 26,725 people. Meanwhile, the second phase targets 5,941 household heads or around 20,908 people.
“For this second phase of social assistance, it targets residents in four subdistricts significantly affected by the flood, namely Rantau, Karang Baru, Bandar Pusaka, and Bendahara subdistricts,” said Yani.
According to him, the second phase assistance began to be disbursed since 10 April 2026 through post offices in each subdistrict. The assistance includes Jadup, BIH, and Social Economic Stimulus. “From the verified data collection results, the number of recipients in this phase reaches 5,954 household heads with an estimated total of around 20,000 people,” he said.