Prabowo Declares Strong Commitment to the Poor

President Prabowo Subianto has stated that his commitment to the poor is immense. “Our partiality to the poor is extraordinary,” Prabowo said during his briefing at a plenary cabinet session at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday afternoon. Prabowo conveyed that his administration is focused on alleviating poverty in Indonesia. He outlined several flagship programmes aimed at poverty eradication. First, a ‘people’s school’ under the Ministry of Social Affairs intended for children from the poorest deciles. “The total received is Rp4 million per month, the Smart Indonesia Card (KIP) for 1.2 million students, with living cost assistance of Rp800,000 to Rp1.4 million per month, and tuition fees are waived,” he said. Additionally, Prabowo stated that his government also has a basic food card programme that provides assistance of Rp200,000 per month, with the number of beneficiaries reaching approximately 18 million families. “National health insurance covers 96.8 million people, nearly 100 million. It is 20 times larger than Singapore’s and 3.5 times larger than Malaysia’s,” he remarked.