Soeharto asks the poor to save for education<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto urged poor families yesterday
\nto save money to help finance their children's education.<\/p>\n
Speaking on National Family Day, Soeharto said the government
\nwas doing everything in its power through the nine-year
\ncompulsory education scheme to ensure that every child would go
\nto school, but families also had to play their part.<\/p>\n
\"I appeal to every family to join the Prosperous Family
\nSavings Scheme to Finance Education,\" he said, referring to a
\nsavings program administered by state banks.<\/p>\n
By joining the scheme, \"the future education of your children
\nwill be guaranteed, and this country will have educated people,\"
\nhe said. \"Children should pick up the habit of saving.\"<\/p>\n
Soeharto was in Binjai, a North Sumatra town famous for
\nrambutan, to celebrate the National Family Day.<\/p>\n
He presented Satya Lencana Wirakarya awards to people for
\ntheir contributions to improving family life.<\/p>\n
Recipients included Mrs. Yogie S.M., the wife of the Minister
\nof Home Affairs who heads the nation-wide Family Welfare
\nMovement, and Mrs. Surjadi Soedirdja, the wife of the Jakarta
\ngovernor who heads the movement's Jakarta branch. Tangerang Mayor
\nDjakaria Mahmud also received an award.<\/p>\n
Soeharto said that, despite development, many families were
\nstill trapped by poverty.<\/p>\n
The government has launched the National Foster Parents
\nProgram to help children of poor families attend school,
\ncomplementing the nine-year compulsory education program.<\/p>\n
When the government extended compulsory schooling from six to
\nnine years in 1994 there were concerns that it would be to
\nexpensive to implement.<\/p>\n
Soeharto went on to tell farmers in Binjai that the virtues of
\nhard work and perseverance were needed to achieve the nation's
\ngoal of a just and prosperous country. \"We have to be patient.
\nNot patience by waiting, but patience by working hard,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Impatience could lead to untoward things, he said. \"We could
\neven suffer a setback.\"<\/p>\n
Soeharto explained the details of several government programs
\nto alleviate poverty.<\/p>\n
They include a program administered by the Yayasan Dana
\nSejahtera foundation, which Soeharto chairs in a personal
\ncapacity. Under the program, each poor family may borrow up to Rp
\n320,000 ($133) as start up capital. \"This money is enough to
\nstart a productive activity,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The foundation has collected Rp 1 trillion in donations from
\nthe country's wealthiest individual and corporate taxpayers. A
\npresidential decree issued last year compelled anyone with after-
\ntax income of more than Rp 100 million to donate another 2
\npercent of their income to the fund.<\/p>\n
By last March, Rp 239 billion of the fund had been distributed
\nto nine million poor families.<\/p>\n
Officially, 22.5 million people were estimated to be living
\nbelow the poverty line at the end of 1996, down from 25.9 million
\nin 1995. A family is categorized as living below the poverty line
\nif its monthly income is less than Rp 38,246 ($16) in urban areas
\nand less than Rp 27,413 in rural areas.<\/p>\n
The government aims to completely eradicate poverty by 2004.<\/p>\n
North Sumatra deputy governor Pieter Sibarani told the
\nPresident that his province had successfully eradicated some
\npoverty because people were opting for smaller families.<\/p>\n
\"We used to be believe that a family was prosperous when we
\nhad 17 sons and 18 daughters. But now we just want one genius son
\nand one pretty daughter,\" Sibarani said invoking Soeharto's
\nlaughter. (06)<\/p>",
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