Indonesia struggles to fight poverty<\/p>\n
Tony Hotland, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Suryatin, 44, carried two fat suitcases belonging to a
\npassenger who was getting on a train at Gambir railway station.
\nHe said he needed to wait for at least one more passenger to hire
\nhim as a porter to get up to his average daily income of some Rp
\n30,000 (US$3.25).<\/p>\n
\"I'm not poor?\" he asked confused on Saturday, after being
\ntold by The Jakarta Post that he did not \"qualify\" as under the
\nstate definition poor people are those with daily incomes of less
\nthan $1.<\/p>\n
\"Well, the government needs to look at that definition again
\nbecause I'm the one living this kind of life. What do they know
\nabout poverty?\" Suryatin added, shrugging his shoulders.<\/p>\n
The definition of poverty remains debatable as some agencies,
\nincluding the World Bank, put the poverty line at $2 per person
\nper day.<\/p>\n
But apart from all the debate about how a person's standard of
\nliving should be defined, poverty prevails as Indonesia's biggest
\nproblem. And four years after the declaration of the Millenium
\nDevelopment Goals, Indonesia is far from reaching these goals.<\/p>\n
The Millenium Development Goals resulted from the United
\nNations (UN) conference in September 2000 in Montreal, in which
\nIndonesia also took part.<\/p>\n
They target a number of goals, such as halving the number of
\npeople living in poverty and reducing the child mortality rate by
\ntwo thirds from its 1990 level, providing basic education for
\nall, and combating HIV\/AIDS.<\/p>\n
The government has set a deadline of 2015 for most of these
\ngoals, including bringing down the number of poor people to 7.5
\npercent of the total population. In 2003, the percentage stood at
\n17.4.<\/p>\n
Director of Macro Planning at the National Development
\nPlanning Agency (Bappenas), Bambang Prijambodo, said that
\nachieving high economic growth was the main strategy for
\nachieving this goal. However, since the economy has been growing
\nslowly, Indonesia needed to curb its population growth because a
\nhigher population would require the provision of more jobs and
\nbasic needs.<\/p>\n
\"Without proper steps to control population growth, it will
\nlikely grow to over 300 million, which is 45 percent higher than
\nin 2000. Such a big population will necessitate more food,
\nclothes, and housing,\" Bambang said in a discussion last week.<\/p>\n
\"Secondly, if the government continues to focus development on
\nJava, more people will live on the island. While the development
\nof other regions remain flat, Java's capacity to support the
\nlivelihoods of its people will start diminishing. The number of
\npoor people will thus keep on growing,\" he warned.<\/p>\n
The UN's Human Development Index released last month shows
\nthat Indonesia ranks 111th out of 177 countries surveyed, below
\nThailand and the Phillipines. Last year, it ranked 112th out of
\n175 countries. The Index, which gauges the public's access to
\nbasic services like education and health, is seen as an indicator
\nof a government's progress in combating poverty.<\/p>\n
Erna Witoelar, the UN Millenium Development Goals special
\nenvoy to Asia Pacific, acknowledged that the country had the
\nnecessary programs to minimize poverty, but the government's
\npriority had shifted to repaying its debt.<\/p>\n
Law No. 25\/2000 on the 2000-2004 National Development Program
\nlists three programs to reduce poverty: equitably providing basic
\nneeds and services to poor families, developing small and medium
\nenterprises to enable them to work independently, and developing
\na social security system that protects poor people.<\/p>\n
\"The problem is we cannot implement the programs maximally
\ngiven our mounting debts. Security problems and low investment
\nare making things worse,\" said Erna.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-struggles-to-fight-poverty-1447893297",
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