President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered Risma to oversee the distribution of the government’s social aid programs and he wanted her to do it fast — as soon as the first week of January.

Both Risma and Jokowi are politicians with the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the same party to which graft suspect former social affairs minister Juliari Batubara belonged. Juliari stands accused of embezzling social aid funds during the pandemic.

In a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Jokowi emphasized that the speedy disbursement of aid was vital to maintain people’s purchasing power amid the virus-induced economic slowdown.

“Don’t let [social aid disbursement] be delayed. It should begin in January because it relates to the people’s purchasing power and household spending, which we want to boost to increase demand,” Jokowi said at the State Palace.

He said the staple food aid package for Greater Jakarta would be converted into cash transfers instead, which will be disbursed through state-owned postal service PT Pos Indonesia or via wire transfers through accounts of state-owned banks.

Jokowi also explicitly called on his ministers to disburse the aid to recipients as it was originally budgeted.

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