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Jakarta council questions KJP cash withdrawal system
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Students show their Jakarta Smart Cards (KJP) at an event held by the city administration. (Tempo/-)
T
he Jakarta city council is set to summon the Jakarta Education Agency following the distribution of the Jakarta Smart Card Plus (KJP Plus) educational assistance program, which enables holders, who are students from low-income families, to withdraw cash using the card.
Steven Setiabudi Musa, a city council member from Commission D, which oversees development, questioned how the agency would monitor the residents’ spending, adding that the cash withdrawal marked a setback in the program’s system.
Previously, the administration of former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama and his deputy Djarot Saiful Hidayat regulated that the card, then called KJP, could only be used for cashless transactions.
The policy was taken after the city administration found some people had misused the money for things that unrelated to education.
“The first phase of the KJP was chaotic, with many people withdrawing cash uncontrollably. There were karaoke and workshop receipts. We’re worried that will happen again [with the cash withdrawal system],” Steven said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.
He added that some parents might use the money to buy Idul Fitri clothes for their children, which is unrelated to educational activities.
There are 680,046 KJP Plus card holders in the capital. The Jakarta administration has recently handed out KJP Plus cards to 124,969 new recipients. (cal)
