What makes people poor?<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): What makes one poor? There are many factors that
\nlead to poverty, including poor work ethos, lack of skills, and
\nlack of opportunity to improve one's life.<\/p>\n
Loekman Soetrisno, a sociologist from Gadjah Mada University,
\nYogyakarta, said that disparities of economic development are the
\nmajor source of poverty.<\/p>\n
He was referring to the concentration of industrialization in
\nurban areas.<\/p>\n
\"If we want to alleviate poverty, we must deal with these
\ndisparities,\" he told The Jakarta Post earlier this week.<\/p>\n
\"We also need to empower the poor,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Those officially listed as \"poor\" make up 14 percent of the
\npopulation.<\/p>\n
Loekman estimated that 20 percent of the population enjoys 60
\npercent of the fruits of development.<\/p>\n
He believes that the wide gap between the rich and the poor
\nwas one of the main factors behind the July 27 riots in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The number of urban poor is apparently increasing in line with
\nthe population and the emergence of new urban areas.<\/p>\n
The National Development Planning Board predicts that long
\nbefore the end of the second long-term development plan in 2019,
\nthere will be 15 new urban areas with populations of over one
\nmillion. Four of these new cities will have more than five
\nmillion inhabitants. By then, around 60 percent of the population
\nwill be living in cities.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, urban development can meet the needs of only
\nsome of the population. In 1993, only 14.71 percent of urban
\nIndonesian households had clean water, 55.29 percent had
\nelectricity, and 2.14 had telecommunication networks.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the growth of the industrial sector in cities
\nand the lack of working fields in rural areas has promoted urban
\ngrowth. Villagers keep coming to urban areas to try their luck.
\nMany end up as poor urbanites instead.<\/p>\n
The government are trying to alleviate poverty through various
\npolicies, such as the allocation of funds for under-developed
\nvillages, which includes 11 subdistricts in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Under the scheme, which started two years ago, each of the
\nvillages was granted Rp 20 million (US$8,492) a year as capital
\nto launch economic activities which could help boost their
\nwelfare.<\/p>\n
President Soeharto last year issued Presidential Decree
\nNo.90\/1995 to help alleviate poverty. The decree called on
\nindividuals and companies with after-tax incomes or profits of
\nmore than Rp 100 million ($42,462) a year to donate up to 2
\npercent of their earnings to the program.<\/p>\n
The Demography Institute of the University of Indonesia is
\nconducting research on poverty. It is also working on projects on
\nunemployment, productivity, child labor, local and international
\nmigration and population, all poverty-related. \"These problems
\nhave not been handled properly by the government,\" Aris Ananta,
\nhead of the institute, said.<\/p>\n
He said there is a lack of continuity in the government's
\nefforts to deal with the issues.<\/p>\n
Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar
\nKartasasmita said recently that the efforts to alleviate poverty
\nwere hampered by inefficient use of development funds. Ginandjar,
\nwho is also chairman of the National Development Board,
\nidentified the lack of congruity and synergy among the agencies
\ninvolved, a lack of vision, low skills, half-hearted commitment,
\nand red tape as some of the obstacles to development projects.<\/p>\n
Juwono Sudarsono, vice governor of the National Resilience
\nInstitute, emphasized that the policies to combat poverty should
\nbe people-oriented. They should amount to more than words.<\/p>\n
\"The ideas should be realized concretely to enable the
\nconstruction of infrastructure and facilities that will allow the
\npoor access to basic needs like clean water, low-cost housing and
\nelectricity,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Considering the current situation, Juwono argued that the
\ngovernment needs some time to solve the poverty problems.<\/p>\n
\"No matter how strong the commitment is, the gap (between the
\nrich and the poor) will remain for at least the next 10 or 15
\nyears,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He was aware that some have suggested a change in the
\npolitical system in order to narrow economic gaps. Juwono said
\nthat he was of the opinion that the political system itself was
\nquite solid. The problem was that \"the political system has never
\nbeen implemented properly\".<\/p>\n
Loekman said disparities between rich and poor could be
\nnarrowed with the lessening of disparities between urban and
\nrural areas.<\/p>\n
But he also underlined that the success in the efforts to
\nalleviate poverty had much to do with clean governance.<\/p>\n
\"The government must be honest and speak out against
\ncorruption, nepotism and monopolies\" he said.<\/p>\n
He warned that more riots might break if the government fails
\nto handle poverty properly. (raw\/sim)<\/p>",
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