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Aides take heat as Jokowi delays new pension fund rule
President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo's aides have been taking the blame after he backtracked on the newly issued controversial pension fund regulation, as labor groups and politicians within his grand coalition deliver a strong backlash.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. (Courtesy of Kompas)
P
resident Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo aides have been taking the blame after he backtracked on a newly issued controversial pension fund regulation, as labor groups and politicians within his grand coalition delivered a strong backlash.
Jokowi has postponed the ceremonial launch of the unemployment benefits program (JKP), which was scheduled to kick off last Tuesday, amid strong criticism that has poured in over a recently issued regulation on the pension fund program (JHT) for workers.
Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah signed in early February a ministerial regulation that would allow workers to claim their pension funds only when they reach 56 years of age. It is a significant change from the previous regulation enacted in 2015 that set no age threshold but stipulated that any pension fund would only be disbursed a month after the worker had been laid off or resigned
The new regulation will come into effect on May 4, but has been met with widespread opposition from labor groups and politicians, both within and outside the government coalition.
House speaker and politician of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Puan Maharani has criticized the government for being insensitive to the current circumstances, saying the new regulation would only make things more difficult for workers amid mass layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The JHT is not a fund from the government; it is the rights of workers because it comes from a collection of salary deductions," she said on Feb. 14.
Responding to the criticism, Minister Ida said that the regulation was issued because, as a special social security net, the JKP would provide layoff benefits.
