Background
To answer the requisite needs of economical public housing and as one of the Government’s acttion to improve the welfare of the people, the House of Representative and the Government of Indonesia formulated the new law called the Public Housing Savings Law (the Tapera Law). The Tapera Law will become the legal basis for government’s program called the Public Housing Savings (the Tapera Pprogram).
The Tapera Program
The Tapera program is a Government’s new scheme to help the low-income communities on financing their needs of housing by adding the mandatory savings obligation for employers and workers. Self-employed (independent worker) and formal workers who already got married or at least 18 years old with a salary above a minimum wage are obliged to join the Tapera program. The Tapera program will add mandatory contribution amount for no more than 3% of the workers’ salary with a maximum of 20 times the minimum wage. The burden shall be divided between the employers for 0.5% and the workers for 2.5%, while for the self-employed workers they must deposit the contribution by themselves. For Independent Workers, they have to contribute 3% out of their income individually. Each member of Tapera program will get a Member Identification Number and an Individual Account. At the end of membership each member will get the Tapera’s savings fund plus its investment interest, while only the member who fulfills the requirements will gain benefit of the Tapera’s housing fund. The investment of the Tapera fund will focus in an investment product of housing and residential areas development, along with its related product. Investment will be through an Islamic Sharia system or a Conventional system where each member of the Tapera program may decide. The Tapera program will supervise and manage by the Tapera fund management body (The BP Tapera).
The purposes of Tapera are:
1. Raising and providing a long-term and a low-cost fund for financing an affordable housing.
2. To fulfill housing needs of the Tapera’s member;
3. To give a simplicity method for the member of Tapera to access financial fund for housing;
4. To give the member of Tapera a legal certainty of acquiring a financial fund for housing; and
5. To give protection for the member of Tapera to acquire financial fund for housing.
The Membership of Tapera
The qualified Workers and the Independent Workers are obliged to join the Tapera Membership. The requirements are:
a .Monthly income is above a minimum wage
b. At least 18 (Eighteen) years old, or already married.
The workers are signed up by their employers, while the Independent Workers should sign up individually to the BP Tapera. When the workers and the Independent Workers become the member of Tapera, they will receive a Membership Identification Number which can be used for: (I) As proof of the membership; (II) Administration Record; (III) Savings; and (IV) Access to Tapera Information. Besides, each member of Tapera will get an individual Savings Account which is securities account. Each member of Tapera who doesn’t pay the savings obligations is declared as the non-active member of the Tapera.
The Expiry of the Tapera Membership Term
The membership of the Tapera program ends if:
1. the member of the Tapera program is retiring;
2. the age of member of the Tapera program is reaching 58 years;
3. the member of the Tapera program is passed away; or
4. the member of the Tapera program is no longer fulfill the membership requirements for five years consecutively.
In the end of the membership, each member of the Tapera program will get the cash of the Tapera’s savings fund plus its investment interest.
The Public Housing Savings Committee (The Tapera Committee)
The Tapera Committee is a government body with functions to regulate a general policy and a strategic policy for the management of Tapera. The Tapera Committee is directly responsible to the President of Indonesia. The Chairman and The Commissioners of the Tapera Committee are selected and dismissed by the President.
The Tapera Committee are:
1. The State Minister who is responsible for government affairs in the sector of housing and residential areas;
2. The State Minister who is responsible for government affairs in the sector of treasury;
3. The State Minister who is responsible for government affairs in the sector of labor;
4. The Commissioner of Financial Services Authority (OJK) who is responsible in sector of regulation;
5. The professional expert in sector of housing and residential areas.
The duties of the Tapera Committee are:
1. Formulate and regulate a general policy and a strategic policy for the management of Tapera;
2. Evaluate the management of Tapera incluing supervising the duties of the BP Tapera; and
3. Report the Evaluation Report to the President.
The Tapera Committee is authorized to:
1. Brief, advise, and give consideration to the BP Tapera;
2. Ask for the management report from the BP Tapera;
3. Propose the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner of BP Tapera to the President;
4. Legitimize the five-year strategic work plan of BP Tapera; and
5. Legitimize the annual budget and work plan of BP Tapera.
Retribution of the Tapera Savings Fund
Retribution of the Tapera is undertaken for collecting the Fund from each member of the Tapera. The members of Tapera consist of: (I) an Independent Workers; and (II) a Worker. The Independent Workers are every Indonesian Citizen who work to get an income but doesn’t depend to the employers. The Workers are every Indonesian Citizen who work for a salary, payment, or other kind of reward in the workers-employers relationship in accordance with the prevailing law. The Fund will be deposited in the Custodian Bank.
The Investment of the Tapera Saving Fund
The Investment Manager appointed by BP Tapera will invest on investment instruments in accordance with the prevailing laws. Investments undertaken by the Investment Manager and Custodian Bank are through a collective investment contract. The Investment of Tapera will focus on a financial products related to housing and residential areas development. The member of Tapera may decide which system of investment undertaken, by Islamic Sharia or conventional.
The Utilization of Tapera Savings Fund
The Tapera housing fund benefit can be used to finance needs of housing such as to purchase a house, to build a house, or to renovate a house.
The requirements needed to gain benefit of the Tapera housing fund are:
1. The member shall join the Tapera program for more than 12 months;
2. The member should belong to the low-income communities;
3. The member doesn’t own a house; and/or
4. The member utilizes the Tapera fund to purchase, to build or to renovate his first house.
The Tapera housing fund benefit for the member of Tapera is undertaken based on the following criterias:
a) The duration of membership;
b) The continuity of contribution payment;
c) The urgency of the needs for house ownership; and
d) Availability of the Tapera housing fund.
The Employers Obligation
The employers are obliged to:
1. Sign up the workers to join the Tapera program;
2. Deduct the savings amount which is the obligation of the workers by withholding the employees’ salary;
3. Deposit the savings amount which is the obligation of the workers and the employers with the detail of the payments of the savings amount in timely manner;
4. Update the facts information regarding the workers membership of the Tapera Program; and
5. Save and store all the reports regarding the detail of the payments of the savings amount of the workers and the employers.
Violations of the obligation by the Employer are subject to administrative sanction by the Tapera fund management body (The BP Tapera) in the form of:
a. a written warning letter;
b. a publication of the employers disobedience;
c. a report letter to inform the authority to put a sanction in accordance with the prevailing law and its capacity for each authority including to revoke the permit; and/or
d. Administrative fine.
Sanctions
The Tapera fund management body (The BP Tapera) may give an administrative sanctions if the person violates the provision of the Tapera Law in the form of:
a .a warning letter;
b. a report letter to inform the authority to put a sanction in accordance with the prevailing law and its capacity for each authority; or
c. Administrative fines.
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