Who is fighting for Indonesia's poor?<\/p>\n
Mubyarto, Economics professor Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
People's attitude towards poverty changes with time. At one
\ntime the subject was considered taboo. It was simply culturally
\nincorrect in the early 1970s for any one in this country to admit
\nthat he or she was poor. One is "insufficiently" or
\n"inadequately" endowed, but never "poor". Similarly, a person is
\n"sufficiently" or "adequately" endowed, but is never "rich".<\/p>\n
This attitude changed in the mid-1970s, thanks in no small
\nmeasure to World Bank President Robert McNamara. In a famous
\nspeech in Nairobi IN 1975, McNamara unveiled a major program to
\nassault global poverty. Poor countries would be aided with soft
\nloans on very concessionary term from the World Bank.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, all of a sudden, it became culturally correct to
\nsay that one is poor. Wherever he went, President Soeharto always
\ntalked about rampant poverty in Indonesia. And in no time at all,
\nIndonesia became one of the major recipients of World Bank aid.<\/p>\n
The theory underpinning the World Bank program is that
\neconomic growth is imperative in tackling poverty.<\/p>\n
The prevailing attitude in Indonesia then was that there was
\nno need to launch a special poverty alleviation program. The
\ngovernment should only strive to bolster growth and the economy
\nwould expand, jobs be created and poverty tackled.<\/p>\n
This was the development theory or the theory of economic
\ngrowth upon which Indonesia's policies were based. Admittedly,
\nthe economy grew robustly, averaging seven percent a year between
\n1966 to 1996. But the majority of the poor people were never
\nreally assisted.<\/p>\n
The realization that Indonesia needed a special program to
\ntackle poverty came in 1993.<\/p>\n
I was invited to work for the National Development Planning
\nBoard (BAPPENAS) as deputy for greater income equality and
\npoverty alleviation. That was the first time in our national
\nhistory that we had a high ranking official dealing specifically
\nwith poverty.<\/p>\n
We launched the Inpres Desa Tertinggal (IDT), a program to
\nhelp poor villages using a special presidential fund.<\/p>\n
Over the next four years, until 1997, through this conscious
\neffort to attack poverty, the number of Indonesians who lived
\nbelow the poverty line dropped dramatically.<\/p>\n
The philosophy underpinning the program was "trust the poor."
\nNever say the poor are lazy or ignorant. Most are victims of
\ncircumstances they could not escape from.<\/p>\n
The 1997 crisis brought the IDT program to an abrupt halt,
\nlargely because there were too many more people joining the ranks
\nof poor. And with that, gone was the principle of empowering the
\npoor people to help themselves out of their situation.<\/p>\n
The government instead focused its attention on providing
\ncheap rice, cheap medicines, and school subsidies. Needless to
\nsay, these social safety net (JPS) programs were open to abuse.<\/p>\n
With the launching of the JPS, poverty suddenly became a hot
\ncommodity. Many people who were not poor claimed they were.
\nTackling poverty in government circles was treated as a project,
\nwith fat commissions, and not a serious problem.<\/p>\n
Is anyone fighting for the interests of the poor in Indonesia?<\/p>\n
Definitely. Many activists and grassroots organizations have
\nbeen actively, but quietly, helping the poor to cope with their
\nplight. But their voices are rarely heard today.<\/p>\n
Instead, we hear economists loudly defending big companies,
\ncalling for their bail out as these corporations default on their
\nmassive debts and become a heavy drain on state finances.<\/p>\n
Why should we save the big companies? The tycoons have not
\nbecome poorer, they are still rich. But they use their employees,
\nand the threat of closure and the loss of jobs as a pretext to
\nsecure government assistance.<\/p>\n
The entire nation seems to have become hostage to these
\ntycoons. We should have let them go out of business. That was
\nwhat South Korea and Thailand did with their tycoons.<\/p>\n
As we are drawn to the plight of the rich tycoons, we seemed
\nto have become insensitive to the plight of the poor.<\/p>\n
The problem with poverty in Indonesia is that our government
\nleaders have never really addressed the problem.<\/p>\n
The media and various analysts usually only comment on
\nproblems that are being talked about by the President or her
\naides.<\/p>\n
So, tackling poverty must first start with a public
\nacknowledgement from the government that this is a big problem.<\/p>\n
I am disappointed that President Megawati Soekarnoputri in her
\nindependence day speech on August 16 did not touch on this issue.<\/p>\n
Our leaders must start to talk about poverty, about the
\nmarhaen (little people), and there's no need to be afraid of
\nbeing labeled a socialist.<\/p>\n
(This article was written based on an interview with The
\nJakarta Post's reporter Israr Ardiansyah in Yogyakarta)<\/p>",
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