Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — Indonesia’s Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) has uncovered tens of thousands of social aid recipients who are employed as state-owned enterprise (SOE) staff, doctors, and corporate managers. The finding raising concerns over potential misuse of the government assistance program.
The findings emerged after the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) analyzed aid distribution data for the first half of the year. The review flagged recipients whose reported occupations appeared inconsistent with eligibility rules.
“This is initial information from banks to PPATK when recipients opened their accounts, stating they were SOE employees or held other professions,” Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf said, as reported by Antara on Thursday (Aug. 7, 2025).
According to PPATK, 27,932 recipients were registered as SOE employees, 7,479 as doctors, and more than 6,000 as executives or managers.
Under Social Affairs Ministry Regulation No. 1/2018 on the Family Hope Program (PKH), beneficiaries are supposed to be poor or extremely poor households listed in the government’s integrated welfare database, now known as the National Socio-Economic Single Data (DTSEN).
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Saifullah said the ministry is coordinating with PPATK and other national and regional authorities to investigate the matter. He stressed that any verification process would be carried out carefully to ensure aid is distributed fairly.
“We don’t want to rush. It must be accountable. If something doesn’t match the criteria, we will evaluate it,” he said. Accounts found to be ineligible will be blocked, with funds redirected to more deserving recipients.
The minister said the move aligns with President Joko Widodo’s directive under Presidential Instruction No. 4/2025, which mandates accurate, transparent, and data-based targeting for social aid distribution.
(Raidi/Agung)
