West Java Deputy Governor Targets Full Digital Social Protection Registration by 2027
The Deputy Governor of West Java, Erwan Setting, has set a target for communities across the 27 regencies and cities in West Java to be registered within a digital social protection system by the beginning of 2027. This target has been established to ensure that the distribution of social assistance becomes increasingly accurate and well-targeted.
Erwan made these remarks following a meeting to discuss local government support for accelerating the pilot implementation of social protection digitalisation in West Java Province at Gedung Sate, Bandung, on Wednesday (9/9/2026). The meeting involved the Social Affairs Office, the Department of Population and Civil Registration, the Department of Communication and Informatics, as well as elements of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the National Police (Polri). The meeting serves as a follow-up to directives from the National Economic Council (DEN) and the Directorate General of Population regarding the digitalisation of social protection.
“God willing, West Java will continue to update the data of these aid recipients, so that it is truly well-targeted,” said Erwan.
According to Erwan, the involvement of the TNI and Polri is necessary to strengthen the verification process on the ground. The government aims to ensure that the classification of community welfare matches actual conditions so that assistance does not reach the wrong recipients.
“Why involve the TNI/Polri? This is to ensure more effectively on the ground that decile 1 is truly decile 1, and decile 2 is decile 2. We must ensure that decile 1 does not fail to receive aid while decile 5 receives it,” he said.
Currently, 11 regencies and cities in West Java serve as locations for the social protection digitalisation pilot. Social protection agents have also been deployed in these pilot areas. Erwan aims to expand the coverage of social protection digitalisation so that all regencies and cities in West Java have access to social protection agents by early 2027.
“I target that by the beginning of 2027, all 27 regencies and cities will have access to these social protection agents,” he stated.
The digitalisation of social protection is being developed to increase community access while strengthening the screening process for potential aid recipients through a systematic approach. One of the tools used as an entry point for these services is the Digital Population Identity (IKD).
IKD is electronic information that represents various population documents previously available in physical form, such as electronic ID cards (KTP), birth certificates, and marriage certificates. This information can be accessed via the IKS application on smartphones.
Through IKD, citizens can perform self-verification of population data. IKD is also being developed to support access to public services, including determining a person’s eligibility to receive government social protection.
In its implementation, IKD is used as a single sign-on (SSO) mechanism to access the social protection system. Citizens can log into the social protection service portal by selecting the IKD option, which then directs them to the IKD application to perform verification, including through biometrics.
Biometric verification is part of the system’s security to ensure that the user’s identity matches the recorded population data. This data is linked to biometric information obtained through a recording process, such as fingerprints, iris scans, photos, and signatures.