45% of people in W. Java live below poverty line: Governor<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung<\/p>\n
West Java Governor R. Nuriana asked regents and mayors in the
\nprovince to wage war against endemic poverty, saying they should
\ncreate special programs for the empowerment of the poor.<\/p>\n
"Based on a recent survey, 45 percent or 16 million of the
\nprovince's approximately 34 million population are living below
\nthe poverty line due to the continued economic crisis. We must
\nhave special programs to eliminate poverty," he said in a
\ngathering to break the fast with regents and mayors in Bogor over
\nthe weekend.<\/p>\n
Also attending the gathering were a number of legislators and
\nlocal officials.<\/p>\n
Nuriana said the special programs should be incorporated into
\nthe 2002 budgets of the province, regencies and municipalities.<\/p>\n
"We must work hand in hand to wage war against poverty and we
\nshould not be busy fighting for our own political interests," he
\ntold the regents and mayors.<\/p>\n
The governor also asked regents and mayors to manage well the
\nalms collected during the fasting month to be donated to the poor
\nto help enable them to celebrate the forthcoming Idul Fitri
\nholiday.<\/p>\n
Nuriana's statement sparked stinging criticism from
\nlegislators who said that the high poverty rate highlighted the
\nfailure of the governor to eradicate poverty.<\/p>\n
"This means the governor has failed to carry out the poverty
\nalleviation Dekabalarea program to improve the people's welfare.
\nIt will be a strong point in evaluating the governor's
\nperformance," said Yudi Widiana Adia, a legislator of the local
\nchapter of the National Mandate Party (PAN).<\/p>\n
He called on law enforcers to retrieve all funds corrupted by
\nlocal officials to be used to empower the poor in the province.<\/p>\n
"So far, the investigation into alleged corruption that
\ninvolves the governor and other officials has not shed any light
\nand has made us skeptical about his commitment to fighting
\npoverty," said the outspoken legislator.<\/p>\n
Yudi said that so far, the governor had not accounted for the
\ndistribution of an Rp 18 billion fund allocated to help small-
\nscale and middle-scale entrepreneurs in the province.<\/p>\n
He said the governor should use the remaining Rp 210 billion
\nof the 2001 budget to be distributed to small- and middle-scale
\ncompanies to help eradicate poverty in the province.<\/p>\n
"But, the distribution of the funds must be conducted
\ntransparently and proportionally. Underdeveloped regencies such
\nas Kuningan and Tasikmalaya should gain more," he said.<\/p>\n
Yudi pledged to give more attention to the issue of poverty in
\ndeliberating the 2002 draft budget that was submitted to the
\nprovincial legislative council recently.<\/p>\n
Surwenda, chairman of the legislature's commission, said the
\nprevalent poverty was because the provincial government had given
\nlittle attention to the poor.<\/p>\n
"This could be seen in leakages in the social safety net
\nprogram in the health and education field last year. A larger
\npart of the funds allocated for the program did not reach its
\nintended recipients," he said.<\/p>\n
Rafani Akhyar, another member of the commission, said 30
\npercent of the province's 2002 budget should be used to combat
\npoverty in the province.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/45-of-people-in-w-java-live-below-poverty-line-governor-1447893297",
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