POLITICAL POWER IN DETERMINING THE TARGET GROUP OF PUBLIC POLICY (CASE STUDY ON DISTRIBUTIVE POLICY IN MAROS REGENCY, SOUTH SULAWESI)

Abstract Distributive public policies always raise problems, especially when determining the scope, type, and number of target groups that must be intervened. Public policy is permanently colored by political and economic processes, where actors exert influence on one another to gain support to achieve the targets of public policy formulation. The context of distributive policies through social assistance programs in the form of the Village Fund Allocation Program and the Family Hope Program (PKH) has resulted in various distribution and target-group determination problems. Potential errors that occur almost every time are assumed to be caused by political factors and policy pressure at the Maros Regency government level. The focus of this research analysis is the argument on applying the principle of precision and accuracy in the distribution of benefit values by determining target groups in situations where the perspective of political elites dominates the public policy process. The research strategy used is through a qualitative-argumentative approach to analyze political constraints in determining appropriate and feasible target groups, especially in the case of Village Fund Allocation (ADD) and Family Hope Program (PKH) policies in Maros Regency, South Sulawesi Province, since 2019-2023. Meanwhile, the research subjects were determined purposively by 2 parties, namely the Social Assistance policy forum and a number of beneficiaries or target groups and NGOs, which were analyzed on a case basis for each type of social assistance. The research results show that distributive policies through the ADD and PKH programs reap high-intensity conflict when determining the number and area of target-group coverage areas. ADD has problems with inaccurate distribution, so the benefits for the target group are not fully appropriate to the field context. Meanwhile, during the implementation of the Family Hope Program, there were errors in data collection and inaccuracies in handling and distribution to the target group. In general, these two forms of distributive policy result in conflicts of interest, where cumulatively, political factors still dominate in the distribution of benefit values rather than the strength of predetermined target groups. The solidarity of target groups can be formed and generated to balance the political forces of policy toward efforts to benefit the interests of social assistance recipients based on justice and recipient eligibility.