REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo said that Indonesia Health Card (KIS) and Indonesia Smart Card (KIP), launched on Monday, were only the beginning of the process to alleviate poverty in Indonesia.
"It is just the first step," Jokowi said while launching KIS and KIP on Monday, Nov 3. The next step, he said, was to improve the service of hospitals.
For the first step, government hands out 157.943 KIP to students. Meanwhile, KIS is given to 4.451.508 poor people.
The government targets to distribute the cards to 19 cities and nine provinces by the end of 2014. He said that goverment would increase the budget for the program in order to reach all provinces in Indonesia.
Executive Secretary of National Team for Accelerating Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) Bambang Widianto said that initially the cards were given to a million poor family. "The program is the new era of alleviating poverty as the cash transfer is given through bank account," he said.
In addition to help the poor, the program also aims to reach financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is comprehensive activities aiming to abolish any form of barriers that might deter people from obtaining financial services.
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