National Economic Council States Digitalisation of Social Protection Ensures Targeted Aid Distribution
Jakarta (ANTARA) - A member of the National Economic Council (DEN), Arief Anshaori Yusuf, stated that the digitalisation of the social protection system is expected to enhance the precision of aid distribution to the public.
During his presentation, Arief highlighted that some beneficiaries face difficulties accessing social assistance due to administrative issues and population data discrepancies. He noted that data integration through digitalisation could help minimise these obstacles by linking population identities, such as the National Identity Card (KTP) and family cards, into a single platform.
“There are administrative issues and population issues; with DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure), these can be minimised,” Arief said during a media discussion in Jakarta on Monday.
Furthermore, he highlighted the issue of ‘inclusion error’, where aid recipients no longer meet the necessary criteria but continue to receive assistance. For instance, in programmes such as the Program Indonesia Pintar (PIP) and the KIP Kuliah (Scholarship), the inclusion error rate reaches approximately 40 per cent.
Arief stated that regular data updates are essential to ensure social assistance is more accurately targeted. Currently, some welfare data still relies on outdated information, which fails to reflect the actual economic conditions of the population.
“In Indonesia, being poor today does not necessarily mean being poor tomorrow, and not being poor today does not guarantee one will not be poor tomorrow,” he remarked.
Through a digitised system, citizens will eventually be able to register themselves directly via mobile phones, with data being updated in real-time. He added that the digitalisation of social protection is also targeted to help reduce the potential for distribution errors, both for those who have yet to receive aid and for recipients whose economic circumstances have changed.
“We will attempt to address these conditions; we cannot eliminate them entirely as reaching zero per cent is difficult, but we will reduce them as much as possible using DPI,” he concluded.