The provision of social assistance during Joko Widodo’s (Jokowi’s) presidency far surpassed that of his predecessor, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Jokowi not only continued Yudhoyono’s programs but also expanded multifold the number of beneficiaries covered by these programs. His core social assistance programs—conditional cash transfer (Program Keluarga Harapan, PKH), Sembako Program (food assistance), Indonesia Smart Program (Program Indonesia Pintar, PIP) and subsidised health insurance premium waiver (Penerima Bantuan Iuran – Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional, PBI-JKN)—were largely a continuation from Yudhoyono’s legacy, with some rebranding. Out of these, only the PKH retained its original name. The others were rebranded with different names.

With the core social assistance programs in place, Jokowi could leverage them when distributing additional social assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic revealed a shortcoming of Indonesia’s heavy reliance on social assistance targeting based on a database comprising the bottom 40 per cent of the population. Economic and health shocks during the pandemic required the government to extend the social assistance programs to those groups that were not included in this database but needed relief. This presented a formidable targeting challenge and spurred efforts to build a more comprehensive targeting database covering a broader population.