President Prabowo Subianto has appointed Minister of Housing and Residential Areas Maruarar Sirait as Chair of the Public Housing Savings Committee Program (Tapera).

Maruarar’s appointment is stipulated in Presidential Decree (Keppres) No. 5/2025, which among others  give him the authority to propose a reshuffle of the Tapera Committee members for the 2024-2029 period.

The People's Housing Savings Management Agency (BP Tapera) is a public legal entity in Indonesia that was formed to manage the People's Housing Savings. BP Tapera is responsible to the Tapera Committee whose members are the Minister of Public Works, the Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas, the Minister of Finance, the Commissioner of the Financial Services Authority, and professionals, who understand housing and settlements issues.

BP Tapera was established based on Law No. 4/2016 on People's Housing Savings, which aims to collect and provide sustainable, long-term, low-cost funds for housing financing in order to meet the need for decent and affordable housing for participants through the preparation of plans, programs and implementation of activities as a whole.

This stipulation is in accordance with Presidential Decree No. 5/2025, which is also in accordance with Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 139/2024 on the Arrangement of Duties and Functions of State Ministries for the 2024-2029 period.

The Committee reshuffle has resulted in a new member structure, with Minister of Manpower Yassierli and former Director General of Infrastructure Financing at the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, Eko Djoeli Heripowerwanto, as committee members.

"The terms of office of the Tapera Committee members, who are professionals, are to continue the remaining terms of office of the members who are replaced," read Presidential Decree No. 5/2025.

Eko replaces Vincentius Sonny Loho who served for the 2021-2026 period. Thus, Eko will serve as a Member of the Tapera Committee until 2026.

Tapera provisions

Based on Article 15 of PP No. 21/2024, the amount of participant savings is set at 3 percent of salary or wages:

Formal workers: Contributions are borne jointly by employers at 0.5 percent and workers at 2.5 percent;
Self-employed: Contributions are borne entirely by the worker himself.
 

Regulations related to this program are stated in PP No. 21/2024 and Law No. 4/2016 on  Tapera. Further provisions regarding the basis for calculating contributions will be regulated through the BP Tapera Regulation.

Tapera challenge

The Tapera program will begin implementation in 2027 and is still awaiting direction from the government. The Tapera Management Agency (BP) has signaled that they will not rush to collect Tapera contributions from workers, taking into account economic conditions and people's purchasing power.

Heru Pudyo Nugroho, Commissioner of BP Tapera, emphasized that the implementation of contributions will be carried out in stages according to the readiness of each workforce segment.

"We will be careful in implementing this program and ensure worker readiness," Heru said as quoted by Katadata.co.id in October 2024.

However, the Tapera program faces legal challenges. A number of communities and workers have filed a judicial review with the Constitutional Court (MK) regarding Government Regulation (PP) No. 21/2024, which amends PP No. 25/2020 on Tapera.

"We are also facing a judicial review of the Tapera regulation that requires workers to pay 3 percent contributions. In fact, the context is an obligation and the consequences of sustainability must be maintained," Heru said.