Jakarta, March 2 (Antara) - The newly enacted law on public housing savings (UU Tapera) scheme is expected to help the government tackle the housing backlog in the country and facilitate small employees and other low-paid workers to own houses.
Chairman of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) Irman Gusman hoped that the enactment of the draft law on Tapera would overcome the problems being faced by people from the low-income group who are keen to own houses.
"With the law on public housing, all stakeholders are expected to have solutions to the housing problems being faced by the people," Irman stated while opening a group discussion at the Parliament building on Wednesday last week.
He emphasized that it was mandatory to make efforts to meet the basic necessity of the public such as by issuing a law on public housing to facilitate people to own houses.
"It is a mandatory matter. Efforts should not only be focused on a certain sector such as on financial management," he emphasized.
The government should narrow the gap in housing ownership in the society. Through regulations, the government is obligated to provide housing for all sections of the society, noted Irman.
The House of Representatives (DPR) enacted into law the Bill on Tapera scheme on Tuesday (Feb. 23) last week.
Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono noted in his address that the issuance of the Tapera law is an effort by the state to meet the people's need for decent housing within their financial reach.
In the Tapera law, the government makes it mandatory for companies to deduct three percent of their employees' salaries, of which 2.5 percent will be borne by employees and 0.5 percent paid by employers, for savings for the housing fund.
After the Bill on Tapera is passed into law, the government's next task will be to draft regulations on technical matters related to the implementation of the UU Tapera. The regulations will be in the form of a government regulation (PP), a presidential regulation (Perpres), and on an executing body of the Tapera scheme.
In the meantime, the Indonesia Property Watch (IPW) has called on the government to supervise the implementation of the public housing savings program, which is expected to raise a housing saving fund worth Rp59 trillion per annum.
The supervision should be carried out stringently. Provisions on the supervision should be included in a PP.
"The IPW hopes that in drafting the PP, the mechanism and supervision systems should clearly be regulated in the articles of the PP," Ali Tranghanda, the executive director of IPW, noted in a press statement in Jakarta on Monday (March 1).
Ali expressed concerns that in the absence of proper supervision, there was a likelihood of the Tapera program being misused. It is implemented on behalf of the people but in reality it is not. After all, the Tapera funds, which are huge, will be handled by fund managers. The funds collected for the Tapera savings could reach Rp59 trillion yearly.
The same concern was also voiced by President of the Indonesian Workers Unions Confederation (KSPI) Said Iqbal.
Iqbal remarked that the funds should be supervised. The funds collected from the contribution must not be invested in other sectors apart from the housing business.
Therefore, Iqbal suggested that the Tapera funds should be invested directly with the state-owned saving bank (BTN), which has had a long experience in running a housing ownership credit program.
"There should be supervision by the government, employers, and employees," Iqbal affirmed.
In line with the establishment of the Tapera program, the KSPI president called on the government to reformulate the basic minimum wage system for laborers as they still receive inadequate amount of wages.
"We have to deduct our wages for many kinds of contributions such as deductions for social security or social savings. It is reasonable if we complain about it," noted Said Iqbal at a press conference on the sidelines of the KSPI national working meeting here Tuesday.
In the Tapera law, the government makes it mandatory for companies to deduct 3 percent of their employees' salaries, of which 2.5 percent will be borne by employees and 0.5 percent paid by employers, for savings towards the housing fund.
Workers have now borne too many deductions such as those for Worker Social Security Management Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan) and Health Social Security Management Agency (BPJS Kesehatan), he said.
Under the BPJS Ketenagakerjaan scheme, employees are required to set aside 5.7 percent of their monthly salary for their retirement, of which 3.7 percent is paid by the company and 2 percent by the workers.
Workers will not object if there is another deduction for the Tapera contribution as long as they have really received decent wages. After all workers need houses, Iqbal said.
"Now, some 80 percent of laborers receive wages of the minimum standard. With that, they cannot buy houses, even if the houses are those of type 27. If the price of the house is Rp120 million, they need Rp6 million as down payment. From where could they get that amount?" Iqbal questioned.
Therefore, the enactment of the Law on Tapera should be followed with the revocation of Government Regulation (PP) No. 78/2015 on Wages, which serves as the basis for fixing low wages of workers.
"The wages should be decent so that workers would not be burdened with the Tapera contribution. We have clear formulations for minimum wages, namely 84 points of decent living standards. Therefore, the PP No.78/2015 should be revoked. The minimum wage standard should be reformulated in a tripartite negotiation," Iqbal remarked.
Therefore, the Indonesian employees will support the government's public housing savings program but with several conditions, stressed Said Iqbal.
"The first condition is that the contribution will not cast any burden on the employers or the workers. The contribution must be evenly divided between the employees and employers," Said Iqbal noted.
If the government decided to set the amount of contribution at three percent of the wages, it should be evenly divided between employers and workers. "If the contribution is three percent, employers and employees should proportionately pay 1.5 percent each. It should not be 2.5 percent by workers and 0.5 percent by employers," he said.
Iqbal said the second condition is that the Tapera program should also be open to workers who still receive salaries at the minimum wage standard, not just to those with salaries above the minimum wage standard.
"The third condition , he said , is that an employee should be able to reclaim the savings after 10 years of participation. If the savings can be reclaimed only after the pension period, then it is surely a wrong concept," Iqbal said.
The other condition is that the funds collected from the contribution must not be used to invest in a sector other than the housing sector. "The last condition is that there should be supervision by the government, the employers and the employees," he said***3***
(A014/INE/O001)EDITED BY INE(T.A014/A/BESSR/O. Tamindael) 02-03-2016 11:53: |
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