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Antigraft body urges govt to use citizen ID numbers to distribute aid
The National Strategy for Corruption Prevention (Stranas-PK) has said current social welfare data is outdated and could cause social aid to be misallocated.
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An official asks residents to separate to adhere to social distancing policies while they wait for aid in Padang, West Sumatra, on May 15. (Antara/Iggoy el Fitra)
T
he secretariat of the National Strategy for Corruption Prevention (Stranas-PK) has urged regional administrations to use citizen identification numbers (NIKs), which are assigned to every registered citizen, to guide the distribution of social aid.
Stranas-PK secretariat coordinator, Herda Helmijaya, said his office had advocated for the use of NIKs to improve the Social Affairs Ministry’s Integrated Data on Social Welfare (DTKS) since last year. The accuracy of the data, he said, was important during the COVID-19 outbreak because the government was set to use the information to distribute about Rp 50 trillion (US$3.3 billion) in cash and food aid.
“This is a complicated problem because the data is far from perfect,” Herda said during a discussion on Wednesday. “We’re working to integrate the NIKs with the DTKS […] to make sure the government’s social aid is distributed right on target.”
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had previously issued a circular urging regional administrations to use NIKs to prevent the misallocation of aid through outdated social welfare data.
KPK deputy head of prevention Pahala Nainggolan said regional authorities’ lack of urgency in updating their data on social assistance beneficiaries had resulted in misallocated aid.
Read also: COVID-19 crisis exposes holes in social aid disbursement
The KPK has also asked regional authorities to distribute aid to unregistered citizens who meet government criteria to receive COVID-19 relief and to submit updated information to the Social Affairs Ministry. The new data set would be cross-referenced with the Home Ministry’s civil registry.
Herda said regional administrations should refer to the circular on the distribution of aid to ensure it was carried out properly.
Despite the KPK’s call to update the DTKS, Pahala said last month only 280 regional administrations had updated their social welfare data. According to law, regions should update the data four times a year.
The Stranas-PK secretariat was established in 2018 after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed the 2018 Presidential Regulation on the national strategy for corruption prevention. The strategy itself focuses on three sectors: business permits and the commerce sector; state finance; and law enforcement and bureaucratic reform.
It includes officials from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the National Development Planning Ministry and the Home Ministry and has a mandate to synchronize and monitor the implementation of antigraft strategy in various government institutions.
