Social Assistance Distribution Inaccurate, 60% Reaches Wealthy Households

The Minister of Home Affairs, Tito Karnavian, has revealed that the distribution of social assistance (bansos) is frequently inaccurate, resulting in those truly in need failing to receive support.

Tito stated that during a trial of the social protection programme in Banyuwangi, East Java, nearly 67% of wealthy individuals received social assistance, while approximately 40% of the underprivileged population did not receive any benefits.

“Based on the results of the first social protection trial in Banyuwangi, there is an inaccuracy of roughly 60% to 67%, while approximately 40% of those entitled did not receive social assistance,” Tito said during a press conference at the Ministry of Social Affairs on Wednesday (30/09/2026).

Consequently, the government is currently intensifying the re-registration of social assistance recipients through a digitalised social protection programme. Members of the public are still permitted to file appeals if they are indeed eligible for assistance.

“Appeals are still allowed,” said Tito.

During this re-registration process, the government will mobilise the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), the National Police (Polri), civil servants from ministries and agencies, as well as local officials to assist with socialisation and help the public complete their registrations.

Furthermore, the government plans to integrate population data with systems using biometrics to ensure that aid is truly received by eligible citizens.

“We will integrate data from the Department of Population and Civil Registration (Dukcapil) using biometrics with asset ownership data, such as land, cars, and others. Therefore, if someone applies for social assistance but owns a car, for example, it will be detected,” explained Tito.

Through the integration of Dukcapil data and asset data, the government hopes that the digitalised distribution of social assistance will become more accurate and targeted.