Jakarta (ANTARA) - Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini on Saturday emphasized that since 2021, her ministry has only provided cash assistance through state-owned banks and post offices."For regular social assistance, we fully transfer (the aid) to the bank accounts of beneficiaries, not in the form of goods," she informed, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Social Affairs in Jakarta the same day.She made the statement in answer to a question from Chief Justice Suhartoyo at the 2024 Presidential Election dispute hearing at the Constitutional Court chamber in Jakarta on Friday (April 5, 2024).
At the hearing, she said that social assistance in the form of goods is only provided in special conditions. For instance, the ministry provides goods assistance to people with disabilities and beneficiaries who are sick and in need of goods such as staple goods and personal hygiene items.
Rismaharini further said that earlier, social assistance was provided in the form of goods. However, due to the high risk of damage to goods as well as the potential for problems from a legal and financial perspective, she replaced goods social assistance with cash social assistance.
The minister also stressed that the social assistance managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs is provided accurately and received by targeted beneficiaries because all the data on social assistance beneficiaries is neatly stored and updated every month.
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Furthermore, the Ministry of Social Affairs is also helping the community to report any mismatch in the distribution of social assistance through its 24-hour command center and the Cek Bansos application.
Through the application, people can file a report by attaching evidence, which is directly checked by officers. If the reported beneficiaries are found to not be eligible for the assistance, the data of beneficiaries is changed.