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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A researcher from Transparency International Indonesia, Agus Sarwono, has disputed a statement by the Social Affairs Ministry claiming that socks were included in the procurement package for school shoes distributed to People's School students. He said the claim contradicts official government procurement data.
“The statement is false and misleading the public, as it directly contradicts the government’s official procurement data,” Agus said when contacted on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.
Citing data from INAPROC, Agus said sock procurement was carried out separately from shoes, both in planning and in budget realization.
In the 2025 fiscal year, the ministry allocated Rp2.72 billion for socks and realized around Rp2.71 billion through seven e-purchasing packages. A similar pattern appeared in 2026, with realized spending exceeding Rp2.4 billion from an initial budget of Rp6.8 billion.
“This data disputes the narrative that socks were already included in the shoe package,” he said.
Agus argued that the discrepancy between official statements and procurement data goes beyond a communication error, warning it could mislead the public and obscure issues in state spending management.
He also pointed to the narrow gap between budget allocation and realization in 2025, which he said could signal heightened risks of corruption in procurement.
According to Agus, if socks had truly been included in the shoe package, there would be no need for separate procurements worth billions of rupiah across multiple fiscal years.
“This separation indicates that from the outset, the items were not integrated, in terms of planning, specifications, or contracts,” he said.
He questioned the reasons behind the mismatch between the ministry’s narrative and procurement records, including who may have benefited from the separation of procurement packages. He also criticized what he described as a lack of transparent, data-based explanations from the government.
Agus further warned that the e-purchasing mechanism used in the procurement process is not free from corruption risks.
In practice, he said, the system can be prone to various forms of irregularities, including price markups without market benchmarks, vendor lock-in through tailored specifications, splitting packages to avoid oversight, and repeated purchases without proper needs assessment.
He added that these risks could increase under new procurement policies that grant greater flexibility to budget users. “Without strong transparency and strict supervision, the room for deviation becomes even more open,” he said.
Separately, Social Affairs Minister Saifullah Yusuf, also known as Gus Ipul, said the ministry is still reviewing the data related to the findings.
“I cannot respond yet. We need to verify the data first,” he said on Tuesday.
Earlier, the minister had presented details of the school shoe procurement that recently drew public attention. The ministry said the program covers various types of footwear for students and teachers, including daily and sports shoes, as well as socks, which it maintains are included in the price of each pair of shoes.
Read: Govt Denies Rp170,000 Shoe Claim for People's School Students
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