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Palace aide rejects call to suspend 'bansos' during election
A palace aide has unequivocally rejected a so-called proposal to suspend the social assistance program, saying it had nothing to do with the election, while rival camps bickered over its merits and who said what.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo greets a group of elementary school students on Nov. 9, 2023 after inaugurating the Cirata floating solar power plant in Purwakarta regency, West Java. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
A spokesperson for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has rejected a proposal to suspend the distribution of social assistance (bansos) during the 2024 presidential campaign and election, saying the program was a lifeline for the country's poor.
Presidential staff coordinator Ari Dwipayana argued that the social assistance program was designed with poor people in mind to give them basic foodstuffs that would normally be out of reach due to inflation.
"The primary objective of bansos is to serve as a cushion or social protection for the poor, so they can deal with the pressure of high food prices as a result of El Niño and global supply chain disruptions," Ari said on Thursday, as quoted by Antara.
Ari also said the social assistance program had both political and financial backing from the House of Representatives, which had agreed to fund it through the state budget.
"So this has nothing to do with the current election process," he said.
A number of senior politicians from rival camps competing against the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka ticket have called for the distribution of social assistance to be suspended, expressing concern that the program could be "politicized" to boost the chance of certain candidates in the election on Feb. 14.
Achmad Baidowi, a central board member of the United Development Party (PPP) backing the presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), claimed the bansos program had become a "propaganda tool."
