Should We Agree with The Saving Management of Public Housing' (TAPERA) Proposed by The Government?

The inauguration of government regulations on the implementation of public housing savings has caused many differences of opinion. Some of them support the existence of a public housing savings program; they believe that this program will be able to help people who do not yet own a house. However, others strongly reject the existence of this public housing savings program. As a civilian, I reject the existence of a public housing savings program that will not necessarily benefit the people.

According to Moeldoko, the Presidential Chief of Staff who supports the public housing savings policy, public housing savings are not salary cuts for employees, but TAPERA is a savings made for workers to own a house. He also says TAPERA can be used as a means of saving for people who already own a house, from which the money can be taken when they retire. On the other hand, the Chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Union Alliance Congress, Sunarno, says that the TAPERA policy was authoritarian, as trade unions were never consulted in making this decision. He feels that the government does not understand the difficulties of the workers so far. The salary, which is arguably very little, must be forcibly saved if the TAPERA policy is implemented, which will be very burdensome for the community considering that workers have received salary deductions that are not comparable to the amount of labor wage increases, which are considered very small. Therefore, this TAPERA policy is arguably the same as forcibly cutting the salaries of employees because there is no dialogue between the government and labor unions or people who feel aggrieved by this policy.

In addition, according to Herry, Director General of Infrastructure Financing for Public Works and Housing of the Ministry of PUPR, who also supports the TAPERA program, one of the advantages of being a TAPERA participant is that the community will be given a Home Ownership Credit with affordable interest, where the installments can match people's income. But although TAPERA participants will be given the advantage of being given a Home Ownership Credit with affordable interest, according to Mirah Sumirat, Chairperson of the Indonesian Trade Union Association, cutting salaries for TAPERA will actually burden workers. With small wages and high cost of living increases, a 2.5% cut will feel very much and overly burdensome. She also says that the government should subsidize public housing instead of cutting workers' salaries. On the other hand, a labor activist from Lmpung, Tri Susilo, also disagrees with the 2.5% deduction from workers' salaries and 0.5% from employers. He says that he is worried that the contribution will be corrupted by the government, given that corruption cases by officials in Indonesia are still high.

After looking at both sides of the argument above, if this public housing savings policy is still implemented, I feel that there are more disadvantages for the people than advantages. I hope this policy will be canceled and abolished.