President Prabowo Declares Indonesia's Social Protection System Among the World's Strongest
President Prabowo Subianto has emphasised that Indonesia has one of the strongest social protection systems, or welfare states, in the world. In his directive, Prabowo stressed that the various social protection programmes run by the government are a tangible manifestation of the state’s alignment with the poor and vulnerable, as well as a foundation towards the target of zero percent poverty.
This was conveyed by the President while chairing a Plenary Cabinet Session attended by ministers of the Red and White Cabinet, including Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf and Deputy Minister of Social Affairs Agus Jabo Priyono, at the State Palace in Jakarta today.
‘So I emphasise this, it turns out we have a social protection system, a welfare state, one of the strongest in the world. If we look at the programmes one by one, and some of these programmes were implemented by the Presidents before us, the governments before us,’ said the President on Monday (20/7/2026).
In his presentation regarding Welfare Support for 2026, the President outlined a number of programmes under the coordination of the Ministry of Social Affairs. The Family Hope Programme provides benefits ranging from IDR 75,000 to IDR 250,000 per month to 10 million beneficiary families from decile groups 1 to 4.
Meanwhile, Sekolah Rakyat provides boarding education services with a benefit value of approximately IDR 4 million per student per month to 44,635 students from families in deciles 1 and 2.
In addition, the Social Rehabilitation Assistance (ATENSI) is provided to 83,357 beneficiaries with assistance of up to IDR 2.4 million per beneficiary per year.
The government is also strengthening the empowerment aspect through the Social Empowerment Programme, which reaches 15,000 beneficiaries, and the Remote Indigenous Community Empowerment Programme with assistance of IDR 10 million per beneficiary targeting 2,810 beneficiaries.
The President also outlined various other welfare support programmes, such as the Smart Indonesia Card for Higher Education, the Smart Indonesia Programme, the Basic Food Card, self-help housing stimulant assistance, the Housing Financing Liquidity Facility, disaster assistance, energy subsidies, food aid, Free Nutritious Meals, and Free Health Checks.
According to the President, the entire programme demonstrates the government’s strong commitment to building a social protection system that reaches people from various groups.
On that occasion, the President asked his staff to continue strengthening social protection governance through cross-sectoral data integration so that aid distribution is more accurate and on target.
‘We must not ask the people to submit the same data repeatedly. We must not let the people spend money just to prove that they are poor,’ said the President.
The President explained that the digitisation of social assistance programmes has now been implemented in 43 districts/cities across 26 provinces, with around 1 million families registered out of a target of 12.5 million families. Previously, people could spend around IDR 150,000 to manage various documents and register for assistance, whereas now the process can be done for free.
Furthermore, the President stressed the importance of integrating social data, population data, education, health, employment, housing, and beneficiary data to avoid targeting errors.
‘Do not let people who are well-off receive assistance because their data has not been updated. Do not let poor families not receive assistance just because they do not know officials or do not understand the bureaucracy. If our system is accurate, the target of zero percent extreme poverty becomes much more possible for us to achieve,’ said Prabowo.
Following up on this directive, Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf, known as Gus Ipul, said that his ministry is currently completing the process of verifying and consolidating social assistance beneficiary data with regional governments as part of strengthening the single data-based social assistance distribution system.
‘Today the data verification process is ongoing. Hopefully, within the next month, the entire data connection process can be completed. There are recipients who no longer meet the requirements, and there are also new recipients who are being added. We are consolidating all of this with regional governments so that the data becomes more stable,’ he said.
Gus Ipul explained that the Ministry of Social Affairs is also conducting a simulation of social assistance distribution through the Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperatives as an alternative distribution channel. Currently, social assistance distribution is carried out through the Association of State-Owned Banks and PT Pos Indonesia.
He added that the process of updating beneficiary data will continue to be carried out periodically so that social assistance is more accurately targeted.
‘We are conducting a simulation. In the future, it may be possible for distributors to open services at the Red and White Village/Sub-district Cooperatives so that beneficiaries can collect their assistance there. We are even studying the possibility that social assistance can be spent directly at these cooperatives so that the benefits are greater for the community and at the same time stimulate the village economy,’ concluded Gus Ipul.