Communications and Digital Minister Meutya Hafid (left), Public Housing and Settlements Minister Maruarar Sirait (centre) and Statistics Indonesia (BPS) head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti attend a joint signing ceremony at the housing ministry in Central Jakarta on April 8, 2025, to sign a memorandum of understanding on the media workers housing subsidy scheme. - Photo: Antara
JAKARTA: Press organisations have expressed their opposition to the government’s housing subsidy scheme for media workers on ethical grounds as a potential risk to journalists’ professional integrity, while urging the government to focus on fair compensation and protecting press freedom instead.
The Public Housing and Settlements Ministry, the Communications and Digital Ministry and Statistics Indonesia (BPS) have joined forces to provide 1,000 subsidised homes to journalists nationwide this year, with the first 100 houses set to be handed over on May 6 to media workers in Greater Jakarta.
Earlier this month, housing minister Maruarar Sirait said the government was collaborating with a number of state-owned enterprises, including Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) and the Public Housing Savings Management Board (BP Tapera), “to ensure that journalists who have fought to speak the truth have access to affordable housing".
Under this scheme, the communications ministry is to coordinate with the Press Council and the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) to verify recipient data, which will then be submitted to BTN and BP Tapera as the programme’s designated financing distributors.
To be eligible, journalists must have a monthly income of no more than Rp 12 million (US$711) if they are single, or Rp 13 million if they are married.
Communications minister Meutya Hafid has made assurances that journalists who received the housing subsidy could still criticise the government as long as they reported "correct news", as quoted by Kompas.com on April 8.
Fair access, fair pay
However, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Indonesian Photojournalists Association (PFI) and the Indonesian Television Journalists Association (IJTI) have rejected the programme as “a political tool to stifle criticism”.
In a joint statement released last week, the associations said the housing programme was unrelated to their profession.
Furthermore, granting journalists a special pathway to affordable housing could give rise to negative public perception, for example, that journalists were seeking or receiving undue privilege.
“Housing subsidies should be allocated based on need, not profession. Anyone with a qualifying income, regardless of their occupation, should have equal access,” said PFI chair Reno Esnir.
IJTI chair Herik Kurniawan echoed Reno’s sentiment, saying, “the government should focus on providing affordable housing schemes for everyone”.
Herik added that if the government genuinely wanted to support the press, it should prioritise policies that strengthened the country’s media ecosystem, especially in light of the growing threats to journalists and their work and the ongoing battle against disinformation.
Meanwhile, AJI chair Nany Afrida highlighted the financial struggles journalists faced, as many media companies did not comply with the Manpower Law, in particular the provisions on minimum wage.
Once journalists received fair compensation, she said, obtaining a home loan would become much more achievable.
In a separate statement, the Press Council said it would not be involved in selecting the 100 journalists for the May 2025 pilot programme, though relevant ministries were welcome to use its online database for the purpose of identifying potential recipients.
The media workers housing subsidy is part of the government's housing finance liquidity facility (FLPP), which targets distributing 220,000 houses this year to low-income groups, including migrant workers, farmers and health workers. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
