Society’s Welfare or Party’s Welfare : analysis of Government Policy Assistance in Indonesia

Abstract

Every three months, a long line forms outside the Pos Indonesia office. Neither to transmit letters nor to send commodities, but rather to accept money. People, especially women and the elderly went to the Pos Indonesia office, which serves as a gateway for government funds. This is known as providing Direct Cash Assistance (BLT) (Akib & Risfaisal, 2015). Indonesia has been providing aid since 2005 and will continue to do so through 2023 (Firmansyah & Fanida, 2022). BLT is a new policy that was implemented by the government under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s (SBY) first term and was continued by the Joko Widodo administration (Iping, 2020). The government’s BLT strategy anticipates reducing the burden on society as a result of growing prices for gasoline (BBM), inflation, and several other social catastrophes such as the COVID-19 Pandemic (Juliana et al., 2022). Furthermore, the BLT was designed to promote the Indonesian government’s initiative to abolish fuel subsidies, which was implemented during President SBY's tenure (Prasetyo et al., 2008). As a result, it is believed that BLT will assist the poor in meeting their fundamental needs, preventing a fall in their standard of living owing to economic difficulties and increasing shared social responsibility (Sasuwuk et al., 2021).