Some 31 thousand civil servants were indicated to receive social assistance

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Some 31 thousand civil servants (ASN) were indicated to receive social assistance from the Social Affairs Ministry under the Family Hope Recipient Program (PKH) and Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT), Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini stated.

"Hence, after we submitted the data to the State Civil Service Agency (BKN), they noted some 31,624 civil servants were indicated (to receive the assistance)," the minister noted at a press conference here on Thursday.

Rismaharini explained that the data was obtained after the ministry conducted a periodic verification of data on social assistance recipients. As many as 28,965 people out of the total 31 thousand are active civil servants, while the rest are retirees that did not fall in the group to receive social assistance.

The minister also noted that the professions of civil servants in question varied, ranging from educators to medical personnel, and several others.

"We give the data to the State Civil Service Agency. We scan the population data, '(could you) please check whether these (recipients) are civil servants or not? It turns out that it is true (that they were state civil servants)," the minister noted.

Rismaharini has reminded that state civil servants were not entitled to receive social assistance. According to the criteria set by the Social Affairs Ministry, those not allowed or eligible to receive such assistance were the ones with fixed income, such as state civil servants, as they were paid by the government.

The data will be forwarded to regional governments for re-verification and follow up. She expects them to respond immediately, thereby enabling the Social Affairs Ministry to continue to update the data regularly.

"There are different types of people who used to be poor, some of which have become civil servants. We are continuously improving, and we rely heavily on the regional (government)," she elaborated.

The minister has also written to elements of the TNI and Polri leadership to conduct checks over fears that there were officers, who also received social assistance.

"As for the national defense force and police force, we have sent a letter to Mister Commander, and hopefully, we would receive a reply soon. This is because in the regulations, (they should) not be allowed to receive routine income (from social assistance)," she added.