Get serious about poverty, SBY says<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told government officials to
\nleave their comfortable offices and go into the field to see the
\nreal situation the country's poor faced.<\/p>\n
\"I ask all government officials, including ... the Vice
\nPresident, governors, regents and mayors, to frequently visit
\nremote areas around the country,\" Susilo said at the State Palace
\non Wednesday. The President also promised to personally visit
\npoor people to listen to their concerns.<\/p>\n
Susilo made the appeal during a ceremony where Coordinating
\nMinister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab and Bank Indonesia
\nGovernor Burhanuddin Abdullah signed an agreement on poverty
\neradication, which would empower medium- and small-scale
\nenterprises.<\/p>\n
The President called on government officials to stay longer
\nwith residents in remote or poverty-stricken areas instead of
\nonly visiting for a couple of hours and flying home.<\/p>\n
\"Go to the poor areas and feel their suffering,\" Susilo said,
\nadding that he was born and raised in a poor village in Pacitan,
\nEast Java.<\/p>\n
Susilo said he always stayed for at least one night when he
\nvisited disadvantaged or disaster-stricken regions such as Nabire
\nin Papua and Aceh.<\/p>\n
\"I have slept inside tents. I was shaken by and empathized
\nwith the poor conditions people in the area (Nabire) faced,\"
\nSusilo said.<\/p>\n
The poor were usually more patient and accepting of their
\nplight and were not demanding, Susilo said. Such modest behavior
\nshould spur government officials on to find a solution to improve
\ntheir welfare, he said.<\/p>\n
\"I observe that (officials) still lack awareness and a desire
\nto improve public welfare. Government officials without such a
\ndesire have no idea what they should do for people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Alwi, meanwhile, said poverty was a collective problem for the
\ncentral government and local administrations. It was impossible
\nfor the chief welfare minister alone to be help the country
\nwithout inter-government cooperation, he said.<\/p>\n
Alwi said he would accompany donor organizations to visit West
\nand East Nusa Tenggara to examine what caused the recent cases of
\nchild malnutrition there.<\/p>\n
The cases showed that malnutrition did not only occur in poor
\nareas but sometimes in regions where food was abundant, he said.<\/p>\n
Alwi also suggested that in some situations, irresponsible
\nparents, not poverty or local body indifference, were to blame
\nfor child malnutrition.<\/p>\n
\"It may have been the (local) culture that caused
\nmalnutrition, such as a mother who insists on having gold
\nbracelets but leaves her children malnourished,\" Alwi said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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