RW Officials in Kalideres Request Holiday Allowances from Businesses with Set Rates of Rp 200,000-500,000

Jakarta – Letters requesting holiday allowances (THR) from RW officials in Kamal Village, Kalideres, West Jakarta, to numerous companies have gone viral on social media.

The letters drew public scrutiny for specifying donation amounts ranging from Rp 200,000, Rp 300,000, to Rp 500,000. The requests were issued by the same neighbourhood association, RW 09 in Kamal Village.

Additional irregularities that attracted public attention included multiple letters bearing different amounts and signed by various officials, including the RW chairman, vice chairman, security officer (Kamtibmas), platoon leader (Danton), and civil defence coordinator (Kasatlak Hansip RW).

Responding to the widespread controversy, RW 09 chairman Wijaya Kusuma broke his silence. Wijaya acknowledged that letters requesting THR were sent to several factories in his ward.

Wijaya explained that he had recently assumed the RW chairmanship several months ago, succeeding the previous chairman who had passed away.

“Regarding the THR matter, I simply continued what the late chairman did. The proposal was the same. As for the names and titles – RW, vice chairman – those were already in place during the late chairman’s time, so I just continued in that manner,” Wijaya told Kompas.com on Tuesday (10/3/2026).

He claimed confusion over why the letters caused controversy, as he was merely continuing a practice that had been conducted for years in the neighbourhood. According to him, several factories in the area were already accustomed to receiving similar proposals.

“It’s been done this way for a long time, the factories already know us,” Wijaya said.

Regarding the Rp 200,000-500,000 amounts listed in the letters, Wijaya stated that the figures came from an old letter template and he had not altered them.

Despite the amounts being clearly stated, Wijaya claimed that his office never forced companies to provide THR according to the specified figures. He maintained that contributions were voluntary based on company discretion.

“I simply used the old letter as it was without changing or adding anything. Companies are not required to meet those amounts. Contributions vary – some give Rp 300,000, others Rp 200,000. Not all companies give exactly those amounts,” Wijaya said.

Wijaya also denied that the separate letters were used to enrich individual RW officials whose names appeared on them.