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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Crime & Justice

Indonesia to Restore Aid for Illiterate Pekalongan Elderly Couple Flagged for Online Gambling

From Republika · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Central Java officials approved the restoration of aid for Darmi, 63, and Dayat, 77, after Darmi’s identity number was flagged in an online gambling screening.
  • A field verification found that Darmi is illiterate and does not own a smartphone, prompting local officials to challenge the suspension.
  • The case comes amid a national review that identified 1,494,652 social-assistance records linked or potentially linked to online gambling activity.

A poor elderly couple in Indonesia’s Pekalongan regency will receive social assistance again after officials found that the woman whose identity number triggered a suspension is illiterate and does not own a phone.

Darmi, 63, and Dayat, 77, receive the Non-Cash Food Assistance program, worth 200,000 rupiah per month and paid every three or four months. Their payments stopped in the October-to-December 2025 period after Darmi’s population identity number was flagged as connected to online gambling.

The results showed that the household was in the poorest category, did not have a gadget or smartphone, and was even illiterate.

— Elliya ChairrohShe described the field verification that led officials to challenge the aid suspension.

Central Java Social Affairs official Elliya Chairroh said village authorities and local social workers challenged the decision and carried out a field verification. The review placed the couple in the poorest welfare category and confirmed that Darmi had neither a smartphone nor the ability to read or write.

The objection and request to reactivate the assistance for Mrs. Darmi and Mr. Dayat have now been approved by the Ministry of Social Affairs.

— Elliya ChairrohShe confirmed that the couple’s benefits could resume if they appeared on the relevant payment list.

The Ministry of Social Affairs has approved the objection and the request to reactivate the benefit. If the couple appears on the July-to-September 2026 payment list, the assistance can be paid again.

Elliya said similar cases had occurred elsewhere in Central Java. A nationwide matching exercise for the April-to-June 2026 assistance period identified 1,494,652 records showing possible connections to online gambling transactions. The figure included both aid recipients and members of their households. Central Java officials are still compiling local data and conducting factual verification. Elliya urged residents not to lend identity cards to unauthorized people, saying stolen or misused identity details can be used to register e-wallets and conduct online gambling transactions.

We urge the public to be aware of the importance of identity cards and not lend them to unauthorized parties.

— Elliya ChairrohShe warned that identity documents can be misused to open e-wallet accounts and conduct online gambling transactions.
About this summary

Originally published by Republika in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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