Government official: The census is finished. This family has been categorised as decile 6-10, okay.
Father: Decile 6-10? I've only got one car, a year 2000 model. Is it because of these?
As the 2026 Economic Census nears its August 31 deadline, the government has come under fire following concerns over inaccuracies in the data used to determine people's income levels with numerous cases going viral on social media of people losing government assistance after being reclassified to a higher decile.
Deputy State Secretary Minister Bambang Eko Suhariyanto said that the government is planning to form an interagency team involving the National Statistics Agency (BPS), the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and other relevant institutions to review how people are classified into income deciles.
Asked whether errors had occurred in the data, Suhariyanto said the government had yet to determine the cause. "We still do not know what the basis is and so on. What is clear is that this is being evaluated by the BPS", he told reporters at the parliament complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on August 31.
Suhariyanto expressed hope that the review would lead to improvements in the income decile classification system. "Hopefully, there will be improvements", he said.
The income decile system divides the population into 10 groups based on income levels. Decile 1 represents the lowest-income group, while Decile 10 represents the highest.
The planned evaluation follows concerns over cases in which residents' income decile classifications changed significantly, affecting their access to government assistance.
One such case involved Timbul, a pedicab driver in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta, whose family was initially classified in Decile 1 but was later listed in Decile 9.
The change affected his son, Luki Arya Wijaya, who had been admitted to the Mechanical Engineering program at Yogyakarta State University (UNY).
After his family's classification changed, Wijaya faced difficulties obtaining tuition assistance and accessing the Indonesia Smart College Card (KIP-K), a government program that provides financial support for students from lower-income families. His family was classified as financially capable under the updated data.
The BPS later updated Timbul's income decile classification to 3 after finding that his data did not reflect his current circumstances.
In another case, Shava, a 38-year-old freelance advertising worker from Patangpuluhan, also in Yogyakarta, expressed shock upon learning of her revised decile ranking. Previously classified under decile 4, she was abruptly reassigned to decile 6.
"I was previously in decile 4, and suddenly, after the economic census, I was moved to decile 6", Shava said on August 20.
Yogyakarta Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) Commission D Chairperson R.B. Dwi Wahyu Budianto confirmed that his office has received thousands of complaints from anxious residents fearing the loss of government aid.
"Thousands of residents have complained about being shifted from category 4 to 6, cutting them off from assistance", Budianto told Tempo.
Notes
The "Nine Dragons", also known as the "Gang of Nine", refer to Indonesia's big capitalists of ethnic Chinese backgrounds who are said to dominate the country's economy, and reportedly include the heads of the major Chinese-Indonesian conglomerates including Anthoni Salim, Prajogo Pangestu, James Riady, Sugianto Kusuma (alias "Aguan"), Tommy Winata, Franky Widjaja, Budi Hartono, Dato Tahir and Low Tuck Kwong.
[Based on an August 31 report by Tempo English titled Will Indonesia review its income decile data amid concerns?.]
