Luhut Acts as Social Protection Agent, Using Mobile Phone to Register Social Assistance Recipients

Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, Chairman of the Government Committee for Digital Transformation Acceleration (KPTDP) and Chairman of the National Economic Council (DEN), has declared himself an agent for the social protection (perlinsos) programme, aimed at helping the public access social assistance.

He revealed this during a press conference regarding the social protection programme at the Ministry of Social Affairs on Wednesday (30/09/2026).

“I have also become an agent for the socialisation of this digital social protection, as I have configured my mobile phone to assist members of the public who require social assistance,” said Luhut.

In this socialisation effort, various authorities such as the TNI (Indonesian National Armed Forces), Polri (National Police), and Babinsa (Village Supervisory Officers) are being involved. Additionally, civil servants (ASN) within ministries and agencies are being mobilised to ensure that those truly in need can receive social assistance.

“We are deploying the TNI, Polri, Babinsa, Bhabinkamtibmas, civil servants, and others to act as agents for socialisation and re-registration, especially for people in mountainous regions and remote villages who still face difficulties accessing this digital social protection,” Luhut explained.

In addition to the security apparatus, local community leaders (RT/RW) are also set to serve as social protection agents to collect data on citizens in need of social assistance.

“Local governments, village assistants, PKH (Family Hope Programme) officers, and everyone else can act as agents to help the public register themselves within the social protection digitalisation database,” Luhut added.