The Census Officer is the same as the Tax Officer? Let's see the facts

As an official institution that is trusted as the main data provider, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) continues to make every effort to improve the quality of providing data and information.

Starting from improving the quality of recording, presenting and projecting data by considering the phenomena that occur in the field.

This is done to minimize errors to a minimum and the data can be used as a reference in making decisions, both within the scope of government (ministry and institutions other than BPS) as well as for individual business entities or companies.

The flow of a census activity at BPS includes the stages of data collection, data processing, analysis, evaluation, and data dissemination/presentation.

Quality assurance in every stage of activity is needed to create accurate data. Especially at the data collection stage so that the resulting data can represent the state of the field.

However, the real problem that becomes an obstacle in data collection is when BPS officers find rejection from the respondent, be it households or business entities.

This refusal arose on the basis of respondents' concerns about data confidentiality, especially for highly sensitive variables such as the value of the respondent's salary/household income.

On this basis, respondents often think that BPS officers are related to Tax Officers. Is that right?

As an institution that is directly responsible to the President, BPS certainly has a legal umbrella that regulates various activities in it.

Based on Law Number 16 of 1997 Article 21, BPS as the organizer of statistical activities (both census and surveys) MUST guarantee the confidentiality of data provided by the public who are respondents.

Various steps have been taken to ensure this, starting with the provision of BPS census/survey officers by teaching ethics in maintaining the confidentiality and comfort of respondents.

In the data collection mode (paper-based or android-based), BPS guarantees data confidentiality until the data processing stage is completed with various complex systems to avoid data leakage to irresponsible parties.

The presentation of data results carried out by BPS is also presented in aggregate form within the scope of the population, for example population, percentage growth in an area, annual inflation rate, and so on.

The census officer has nothing to do with the tax officer. The data produced by BPS is fully under the full authority of BPS, with direct supervision by the President.

Although, of course, decision makers (government and entrepreneurs), as well as the public (such as researchers and students) can access raw data for analysis of a research or issue a policy.

However, the raw data provided by BPS for use by other parties cannot be traced to the whereabouts of individuals, because several important variables have been omitted such as name,

Address, and several other variables concerning personal identity. The raw data request process at BPS is also quite long, to ensure that the related data will not be misused.

Currently, various data leakage issues are rife in various institutions in Indonesia. This should be a concern for BPS as a government agency in maintaining data confidentiality, in order to increase public trust in participating in every BPS activity.