Social Minister Supports PBI Scheme for Inmates
Social Minister (Mensos) Saifullah Yusuf, or Gus Ipul, has voiced his support for the proposal to provide social protection to inmates (Warga Binaan Pemasyarakatan, WBP) through the Penerima Bantuan Iuran (PBI) scheme. He stated that this step aligns with the mandate of Article 34 of the 1945 Constitution.
Gus Ipul conveyed this during a visit from House of Representatives member Rieke Diah Pitaloka, along with Hetty Widiastuti, Head of the Special Health Care and Rehabilitation Working Group of the Directorate General of Corrections, at the Ministry of Social Affairs office on Friday (27/3).
“This is in line with Article 34 of the 1945 Constitution. The poor and neglected children shall be cared for by the state,” said Gus Ipul.
He explained that the implementation of the constitutional mandate is carried out through various social protection and empowerment programmes for Social Welfare Service Recipients (Pemerlu Pelayanan Kesejahteraan Sosial, PPKS). The forms of assistance include the Family Hope Programme (Program Keluarga Harapan, PKH), food aid, and PBI.
Gus Ipul noted that there are 12 vulnerable groups or Social ATENSI Service Recipients (Pemerlu ATENSI Sosial, PAS) targeted by the Ministry of Social Affairs for assistance. These groups include the poor, neglected children, people with disabilities, neglected elderly, disaster victims, and former inmates.
Of the total 275,513 current inmates, 112,882 individuals have been registered as PBI recipients. To ensure targeting accuracy, the Ministry of Social Affairs will coordinate with the Central Statistics Agency (Badan Pusat Statistik, BPS) in the verification and decile determination process.
In addition to the PBI scheme, the government is also open to providing other social assistance to inmates who meet the criteria.
“So anyone who meets the criteria can receive social assistance as protection. The nature of social assistance is temporary, so that they can rise to become independent families. So social assistance is actually only temporary,” he said.
Following the protection phase, the Ministry of Social Affairs will proceed with social rehabilitation programmes according to each individual’s needs. This service is provided through the ministry’s centres in various regions.
“In the context of social rehabilitation, the government has residential services through the centres we have; that is residential service,” he added.
Meanwhile, for healthy aid recipients of productive age, the approach is economic and social empowerment, such as training, business assistance, and market access.
“In empowerment, there is business assistance, training assistance, market creation assistance, assistance that is actually more abundant,” he said.
He also emphasised the importance of data integration through the National Single Social-Economic Data (Data Tunggal Sosial Ekonomi Nasional, DTSEN) so that all assistance programmes can run more accurately and sustainably.
“Insha Allah, this information will be followed up to provide protection for inmates,” he concluded.