Kemensos Opens Up About Rp 27 Billion Shoe Procurement Spotlighted by KPK
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) has disclosed details of the budget procurement for shoes for students of Sekolah Rakyat, which was reported to reach a staggering Rp 27 billion.
In its clarification, Social Affairs Minister (Mensos) Saifullah Yusuf stated that the Rp 27 billion budget was only the initial planning figure, not the actual amount.
He also revealed the budget procurement for shoes for students and teachers of Sekolah Rakyat, which has no connection to the photo with East Java Governor Khofifah.
Regarding the controversy over the Sekolah Rakyat shoe budget, Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Agus Joko Pramono also responded regarding the potential for corruption loopholes.
Subsequently, Kemensos will carry out the procurement process with a figure that is lower, or cheaper, than the initial planning budget.
“This procurement process will be tendered openly, and the result will certainly be cheaper than the planning,” said Gus Ipul when met at the Sekolah Rakyat Kedung Cowek project site in Surabaya on Monday (4/5/2026).
“If now it’s said to be Rp 700,000 (per shoe), later the result could be far below that. There will be a tender process, I don’t understand the details of the tender process too much,” he said.
Therefore, Gus Ipul has warned his members in the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) not to manipulate the budget so that the programme runs well.
The photo of Gus Ipul with Khofifah quickly went viral on social media after it was known that the price of the shoes given to Sekolah Rakyat students was only around Rp 100,000.
Gus Ipul emphasised that those shoes were a gift from Khofifah, not a procurement from Kemensos.
“So that’s not the intended shoes (for Sekolah Rakyat), those were given to Sekolah Rakyat students by the Governor of East Java, not a procurement from Kemensos,” Gus Ipul explained.
Gus Ipul understands if that photo became a topic of discussion in society because it was narrated as a high-value procurement.
“So that there is no misunderstanding, on social media, what is the photo, what is the programme, so people are confused. So this is unfounded slander,” he said.