RW Chairman in Kalideres Denies Setting Mandatory THR Payments for Companies
Jakarta — The chairman of RW 09 in Kamal Village, Kalideres, West Jakarta, Wijaya Kusuma, has emphasised that he never compelled companies to pay specific amounts in a request letter for holiday bonuses (Tunjangan Hari Raya, THR) that recently went viral on social media.
According to Wijaya, the figures stated in the proposal were merely suggestions and not binding obligations for companies.
He denied ever setting or mandating that companies pay specific amounts, such as Rp500,000, Rp300,000 or Rp200,000 as stated in the letter.
Wijaya explained that the figures and the format of sending separate letters to various RW administrative positions were inherited from a draft proposal from the previous RW administration.
As the newly appointed RW chairman who took office last year, replacing his late predecessor, he claimed he was simply continuing an existing tradition.
“I was just going along with things. I was continuing from the late RW chairman. I continued the proposal as well. As for the names of administrators, the RW chairman, deputy and so on, those were already in place during the late chairman’s time, so I just continued it,” he said.
Wijaya also denied that the separately addressed letters were used to enrich individual RW administrators whose names appeared in the proposal.
He claimed all money collected from companies would be pooled together to purchase gifts.
These gifts would then be distributed to those who have assisted in community operations.
“So it has nothing to do with which RW official or deputy gets what. I’ll combine all the money I receive and buy gifts for my people — the RTs and their staff, and also the PPSU (public cleaners),” he said.
“Basically, once I receive all the money, I’ll immediately buy gifts — cloth, biscuits, oil, rice, things like that. Then I’ll distribute them to the RTs and their staff in groups of three, and also to the PPSU,” he added.
Wijaya stated that the THR request proposal had only recently begun circulating to various factories in the RW 09 area. He noted that to date, no THR funds from companies have been collected.
Acknowledging the public controversy that has emerged, Wijaya promised to evaluate the THR request letter system to make it clearer and prevent misunderstandings among business owners.
“If the way we’re doing this is considered too demanding by companies, we’ll try to improve it. For example, we could consolidate the requests into one letter. I could also communicate directly with the companies,” he concluded.
Previously, a business owner complained on social media about receiving a THR request letter from RW administrators in Kamal Village, Kalideres, West Jakarta.
The issue that caught public attention was the division of letters addressed to various administrative positions, ranging from the RW Chairman, Deputy RW Chairman, security officer (Kamtibmas), section head (Danton), and civil defence deputy chief (Kasatlak Hansip RW).