Gus Dur tells BKKBN to stop fudging population figures<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid warned officials of
\nthe National Family Planning Board (BKKBN) on Tuesday to stop
\nmanipulating population figures merely to please the country's
\nleaders.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman, known as Gus Dur, decried the practice and said
\nit would only worsen the country's population situation in the
\nfuture.<\/p>\n
Speaking during the opening of the board's four-day working
\nmeeting, the President said he was confused by the board's claim
\nthat the birthrate continued to drop when the country's real
\npopulation growth was higher than the government's official
\nfigure.<\/p>\n
\"I want you to give the real figures even though they may
\nhurt, because it will be much better than hiding the facts until
\nit is too late to improve the situation.\"<\/p>\n
The President recounted his trip to Semarang on Saturday and
\nsaid his daughter told him that thousands of children greeted him
\nalong the route. He said it disproved the official claims of a
\nfalling birthrate.<\/p>\n
\"The government says the family planning program is very
\nsuccessful, but the facts show that women continue having
\nbabies,\" he said with a grin.<\/p>\n
His concern over misleading data from the board was seemingly
\nborne out in the behavior of its officials, who before the
\nceremony distributed copies of what they said was the President's
\nspeech.<\/p>\n
Journalists were skeptical because the President, due to his
\npoor eyesight, does not usually have a prepared text.<\/p>\n
The officials later described the six-page text as pointers
\nfor his speech.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman said that he often doubted many of the statistics
\nissued by the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) and BKKBN.<\/p>\n
He said the manipulation of figures should be stopped because
\nthe people would be the ultimate victims.<\/p>\n
\"National family planning programs must be developed with
\nhonesty even though it may be resented,\" the President said.<\/p>\n
State Minister of the Emancipation of Women Khofifah Indar
\nParawansa, who is also in charge of the family planning board,
\nsaid in her report to the President that the country's population
\nwas expected to double in 40 years from the current 206 million,
\ngiven the steady growth rate of 1.54 percent.<\/p>\n
She also expressed concern at the increasing number of
\nabortions performed in the country. She vowed to reduce the
\nnumber of unwanted pregnancies in a bid to halt abortions.<\/p>\n
\"In relations to this, male participation (in family planning)
\nmust improve,\" Khofifah said. (prb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/gus-dur-tells-bkkbn-to-stop-fudging-population-figures-1447893297",
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