Quality Data is Gold

KOMPAS/DHANANG DAVID ARITONANG

Mukhtar (64), a resident of RT 002 RW 003 Telagamurni Village, West Cikarang, West Java, has not yet received social assistance from the government. In fact, he was one of the people affected by Covid-19 who had not worked during this pandemic.

There is an obvious need for social assistance during a pandemic. A huge amount in funds is being disbursed. However, due to a lack in data quality, not everyone can enjoy this assistance.

This is a portrait of social assistance distribution in April and May as exposed by Kompas in articles published between Thursday and Saturday.

Those who are supposed to have received assistance twice have only received it once. Some have yet to receive any at all. On the contrary, those who are not supposed to be eligible for the assistance were found to have received it, some several times. While the amount of social assistance not reaching the right people may not be significant, it is unfortunate that the assistance remains out of reach for some people who really need it.

Also read : “Until Now, I Haven’t Received Any Social Assistance”

Today, there are seven social assistance programs to help people affected by Covid-19. The Social Affairs Ministry has four programs, namely two regular social assistance programs, the Family Hope Program, budgeted at Rp 8.3 trillion (US$592.36 million), and the noncash staple food assistance program budgeted at Rp 15.2 trillion, and two non-regular programs, a staple food assistance program budgeted at Rp 3.4 trillion and cash social assistance budgeted at Rp 16.2 trillion. The fifth program is the village fund direct cash assistance from the Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry budgeted at Rp 21.57 trillion. Sixth is social assistance programs from provincial administrations. Seventh is programs from city and regency administrations.

The total budget is huge. The first five programs have a total budget of Rp 64.67 trillion. If distributed properly, the program can reach 52.8 million families, or almost 69 percent of families nationwide, which is around 75.7 million. This does not include budgets earmarked by provincial, regency and city administrations. The West Java administration, for instance, has set aside Rp 8.2 trillion for social assistance programs.

Also read : Muddled Data Causes Social Aid Confusion

KOMPAS/ADITYA PUTRA PERDANA

People apply for cash social assistance (BST) from the Social Affairs Ministry at the office of PT Pos Indonesia in Semarang, Central Java, on Thursday (21/5/2020). Social Affairs Minister Juliari P Batubara was in attendance, and assistance was given to 94,803 beneficiary families.

The root of the problem in this misdirected social assistance is inaccurate integrated social welfare data (DTKS) that serves as the basis for the distribution. Central government data from 2016 has yet to be updated by regional administrations.

As countries around the world develop big data on a mass scale, both in terms of volume and variety, with data processing systems using superfast computing, we are still playing catchup in organizing our population data using traditional means.

There is immediate work to be done in catching up with other countries. Without quality data, the nation will not be able to make quality policies and implement it efficiently and effectively. Data is gold.

Also read : Ahead of New Order, We Need New Legal Umbrella and Socialization

Awareness of the importance of data organization has emerged for quite some time. On June 30, 1967, for instance, Kompas published articles on weaknesses in data reporting faced by Statistics Indonesia (BPS). In the discourse surrounding electronic ID cards in 2013, the issue reemerged. However, it is often overwhelmed by various interests. Now, the government is ramping up its efforts on the One Data Indonesia program. Furthermore, we are doing a census in 2020. We must not lose this momentum.