Social Affairs Minister Tri Rismaharini has said that 98.6 percent of the direct cash assistance allocated to cushion the increase in fuel prices has been distributed to targeted beneficiaries.

The remaining beneficiaries, who make up less than two percent of the total target, are residing in the Papua region, she informed. The disbursal of cash assistance has been accompanied by identity recording of people whose data is yet to be registered, she said.

“Indeed, we are holding back (assistance for) Papua (people living) in the mountains because we want (their data) to be recorded at the same time (as the distribution of the allocation); because the whole time (that the aid has been distributed,) we have no idea of the data, (all we know are) only names and addresses,” Minister Rismaharini explained during a graduation ceremony at the Social Welfare Polytechnic in Bandung, West Java, on Wednesday.

The identity recording is aimed at obtaining real data regarding the number of Papuan people who will need government assistance in the future, she said.

This is because the number of Papuan people arriving for the aid distribution has exceeded the assistance, she recalled.

The recording process would be completed by October 2022 at the latest, the minister said. Later on, the first iteration of cash assistance disbursement will be allocated entirely to citizens.

She also assured that the amount of cash assistance that would be distributed during the next iteration will be the same nominal as the first one.

“This month, God willing, it will be finished, because next month, we have to distribute the next one,” the minister added.

Source: Antara News