"Be careful to manage sensitive issues," the president said.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked all ministries and non-ministerial government institutions to coordinate in addressing sensitive issues.
"Be careful to manage sensitive issues," the president said, while chairing a plenary cabinet meeting on the draft 2018 state budget at the State Palace here, on Monday.
He was responding to the result of a survey by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), which showed that the number of the Indonesian people living in poverty increased to 6.9 thousand during the September 2016-March 2017 period.
For its part, all ministries and non-ministerial government institutions should pay attention to the survey and coordinate to curb poverty rate, he stated.
He noted that the government has actually implemented all phases of poverty eradication program properly. However, the BPS did not coordinate with the relevant ministries when it conducted the survey.
"I hope that if the BPS is to do something related to a survey, all ministries must understand it. I ask the coordinating ministers to coordinate the matter," he remarked.
The poverty rate would fall if all ministries and non-ministerial government institutions coordinated to address the matter, he explained.
The survey was conducted at the same time while the distribution of subsidized rice was delayed. As a result, the number of people living in poverty increased, he revealed.
"Actually, this is not a fundamental problem. If they synchronized (their programs), it would not (increase). I assured it would fall. The problem merely rests with the delay in the distribution of the subsidized rice to target households. We must be careful to manage such sensitive issues," he concluded.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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