Payment for Partners in Preemployment Card Program Awaits Evaluation

KOMPAS/BAHANA PATRIA GUPTA

Residents access the prakerja.go.id website to register for the preemployment card program at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry of East Java in Surabaya on Monday (13/4/2020). Recipients of the preemployment card program, which has a quota of 164,000 participants nationally, will receive training and an allowance of Rp 3.55 million per person for four months. The program seeks to assist workers laid off as a result of COVID-19, which in East Java amounts to about 50,000 workers.

The technical team for the preemployment card program has proposed the establishment of a special team to evaluate the program. The KPK’s recommendations will be used to aid the evaluation.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The technical team for the preemployment card program has proposed to the Coordinating Economic Minister the establishment of an evaluation team for the program. The proposed team will be tasked with verifying payments to the program’s partners, such as learning online platforms.

"We suggest the establishment of an evaluation team to verify which digital platforms can or cannot receive payment,” said Feri Wibisono, the chairman of the technical team of the preemployment card program, who is also the deputy attorney general for Civil and Administrative Affairs (Jamdatun), in Jakarta on Friday.

Read also: Potential Conflicts of Interest in Pre-Employment Card Program

If the team is established, payments to partners will depend on the results of the evaluation.

Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) executive director Tauhid Ahmad supported the proposal for the establishment of the evaluation team. He said the team was needed to repair weaknesses in the preemployment card program, which provides training for workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to achieve optimal results, Tauhid hoped that the team would use the results of the study and recommendations from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as the basis of the evaluation.

Previously, the KPK announced it had found potential conflicts of interest and state losses in the preemployment card program. Conflicts of interest in the Rp 20 trillion (US$1.42 billion) training program may have occurred in the relationship between online learning platforms and training providers. (Kompas, 6/19/2020).

Under discussion

Regarding the KPK’s discovery of potential conflicts of interest, Feri said that the matter had been discussed by the technical team. The team had reviewed the KPK’s findings and had also proposed a recommendation to resolve the problem.

Regarding the KPK\'s recommendation that the National Committee for Job Creation, which oversees the preemployment card program, ask for a legal opinion from Jamdatun, Feri said the opinion had been given but declined to disclose its content, saying it was confidential.

In the preemployment card program, Jamdatun is also the head of the technical team. The task of this team is to review the governance and implementation of the program, including providing legal opinions regarding the procurement of goods and services. The team members include senior officials of the KPK, the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), the Coordinating Economic Minister’s Office and the Manpower Ministry.

KOMPAS/KURNIA YUNITA RAHAYU

Elma Meika, 23 (right), and Juliana, 24 (left), complete training assignments in the lobby of the Mulya Jaya Social Rehabilitation Center in East Jakarta on Tuesday (26/5/2020). The two girls have lived in and attended training sessions at the center since early May after they were laid off without severance from a textile factory affected by COVID-19, then evicted from their rented house in Tangerang, Banten. The girls from Palembang, South Sumatra, lived gloomily in kampongs for a few days because they could not get domicile-based social assistance, and they were both rejected for the preemployment card program.

The secretary of the Government Goods and Services Procurement Policy Agency (LKPP), Setya Budi Arijanta, said that his office had released an official statement regarding the procurement of goods and services for the preemployment card program. The statement said that procurement of goods and services for the program was not based on Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No.

16/2018 on the procurement of government goods and services but rather on separate regulations, namely Presidential Regulation No. 36/2020 on the development of job competency through the preemployment card program and Coordinating Economic Ministerial Regulation No 3/2020.

"However, we recommend the use of a bidding process in the procurement of goods and services for the program," said Setya.

The government has temporarily suspended the preemployment card program following the discovery of alleged irregularities, such as in the appointment of online learning platforms that are used to sell training packages and to run online training courses for participants.

About 10 million people have applied for the program since it was launched in March, but only 680,000 have been accepted.

The program was suspended after the third batch of the training program has been completed. About 10 million people have applied for the program since it was launched in March, but only 680,000 have been accepted.

Participants accepted into the program receive Rp 3.5 million each during the four-month training program: Rp 1 million to buy training packages, a monthly stipend of Rp 600,000 and Rp 150,000 for survey expenses.

Clarity

Awan Wahyu Ishaq Gunawan, 28, a participant in the training program from Bandung, West Java, hopes that there will be improvements in the program, including in communication with the participants. “If there are complaints, please respond to them so that we feel we are listened to. At least, we will feel calm and won’t need to ask anymore," he said.

KOMPAS/HARRY SUSILO

Tohirin, 39, harvests hydroponically cultivated spinach at his home in Bekasi city, West Java, on Saturday (6/6/2020). Despite having lost his income after being laid off, Tohirin has tried to remain productive. He was laid off because the hotel where he worked had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He hopes to get assistance from the preemployment card program, which prioritizes job seekers whose livelihoods were affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Awal said the hotline service provided by the government for the program did not help much as the information given by the people in charge did not really answer the questions. In addition, participants had to wait for a long time to connect to the hotline.

The social media content that provides information about the preemployment card program has not been helpful either. Awal said he often wrote comments to and uploaded photos on the Instagram account of Prakerja.go.id. Instead of getting responses, the comments and photos were deleted, he said.

According to Awan, the comments on the Prakerja.go.id account reflected the feelings of participants about the training programs,. "Most of the comments were related to participants’ complaints about and dissatisfaction with the program,” he added.

Another participant of the training program, Dicky Prastya, 24, hoped that the training activities would resume soon. "Many people have lost their jobs because of COVID-19. As a result, most of them are in dire need of cash. In my opinion, the good thing about the preemployment card program is that it provides cash," he said.

KOMPAS/WISNU WIDIANTORO

Training is offered on the skillacademy.com website under the preemployment card program in Jakarta on Tuesday (16/6/2020).

Maulana Alfa Rizki, 33, who lost his job in April, complained that he was not accepted in the program. He thought he had met all the requirements. “Since the program was launched, I have tried to register several times, but I failed and failed again. I hope the government will prioritize layoff victims like me, because it is difficult to get a job at present," said Maulana, who now works odd jobs to survive.

Tauhid Ahmad of Indef hoped the government would provide special assistance to those who had lost their jobs because of COVID-19. However, the social assistance had to be separated from other social assistance, he said. There was also a need to differentiate between unemployed people in general and laid off workers. The data of the laid off workers could be taken from the association of employers and workers and verified by the Manpower Minister. (ILO/NIA/IRE/SHR/PDS/FRD/FAI )