Timeline of Denpasar Mayor's Apology to Prabowo Over BPJS PBI Issue
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia – Denpasar Mayor I Gusti Ngurah Jaya Negara apologized to President Prabowo Subianto and Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf regarding his statement about the deactivation of Health Insurance Contribution Assistance (PBI) BPJS Health recipients.
Initially, Jaya Negara claimed there was a presidential instruction through the Ministry of Social Affairs to deactivate PBI BPJS Health recipients in Deciles 6 through 10.
“Indeed, there is currently a presidential instruction through the Ministry of Social Affairs to deactivate BPJS Health for Deciles 6 to 10. It so happens that Denpasar was affected, with 24,401 people,” Jaya Negara said on Tuesday (10/2).
The context of the Denpasar Mayor’s statement was the city government’s policy to reactivate the 24,401 Decile 6 to 10 recipients who had been previously deactivated.
The statement was then responded to by Minister of Social Affairs Saifullah Yusuf, known as Gus Ipul. He deemed Jaya Negara’s remarks misleading and potentially confusing to the public.
“That statement is misleading and has truly confused the public, because what was conveyed is far from the facts. It made it seem as though the President instructed the deactivation of PBI. This is truly misleading,” Gus Ipul said on Friday (13/2).
Gus Ipul affirmed there was no instruction from President Prabowo to deactivate PBI BPJS Health for Deciles 6 to 10. He asked the Denpasar Mayor to retract his statement and issue a public apology.
“I ask the Denpasar Mayor to retract his statement and apologize. This must not be allowed to be perceived as truth,” he said.
He also warned that incorrect information could potentially constitute slander and worsen the spread of hoaxes.
“This could become slander and spread hoaxes. Because there was no presidential instruction as stated by the Denpasar Mayor,” he said.
The following day, Jaya Negara publicly apologized to the President and Minister of Social Affairs.
“As the Mayor of Denpasar, I apologize to the President and the Minister of Social Affairs for our statement claiming that the President instructed the Minister of Social Affairs to deactivate PBI beneficiaries in Deciles 6 to 10, totaling 24,401 people in Denpasar City,” Jaya Negara said on Saturday (14/2).
He affirmed there was no intention to corner the President. According to him, his statement was referring to Presidential Instruction Number 4 of 2025 on the National Single Social and Economic Data (DTSEN), which aims to improve data accuracy so that assistance is better targeted.
“Honestly, we had no such intention whatsoever. What we meant was that the President issued Instruction Number 4 of 2025 on DTSEN, which aims to improve data accuracy so that it is better targeted, effective, and efficient,” he explained.
Jaya Negara explained that based on that data and the Minister of Social Affairs’ decree, health insurance contribution assistance recipients use Deciles 1 through 5. Meanwhile, he said he received a report from BPJS Health regarding the deactivation of 24,401 Decile 6 to 10 participants in Denpasar.
“Based on this data, Minister of Social Affairs Decree Number 4, Point C, states that health insurance contribution assistance recipients use Deciles 1 to 5,” he added.
In response to this situation, the Denpasar City Government held a meeting and decided to reactivate the deactivated participants using Denpasar city budget (APBD) funds so that residents would continue to receive BPJS Health services.
“For that reason, we held a meeting and invited BPJS Health Denpasar. We wanted to adopt a policy to reactivate the deactivated data using Denpasar city budget funds, so that our residents continue to receive BPJS Health services in Denpasar City,” he said.
The controversy ultimately led to Jaya Negara’s clarification and apology to the President and Minister of Social Affairs.