Surabaya launches digital social protection system while youth program sees only 2% budget absorption

Surabaya's municipal government is testing a digital social protection (Perlinsos) platform that uses face‑recognition and cross‑checks asset data from utilities, police and land registries. Muhammad Qodari, head of the Indonesian Government Communication Agency, praised the pilot as a way to eliminate inclusion and exclusion errors in aid distribution. Of more than a million households, 334,560 were registered through agents and 62,673 signed up directly; the system identified 119,000 eligible families and newly reached about 51,000 households—roughly 175,000 people—previously missed.

Meanwhile, the Surabaya Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) is reviewing the Gen Z Intervention Program intended to reduce open unemployment. Chair Yona Bagus Widyatmoko noted that by the third quarter of the 2026 fiscal year only about 2 % of the Rp47 billion budget had been absorbed, with activity in just four to five of the city's 31 districts. The council warned that if the program continues to under‑perform, it could be revised or removed in the 2027 budget cycle.