Combating poverty

The world's attention has focused on this year's most prestigious gathering: the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), being held from Aug. 26 until Sept. 4 in Johannesburg, South Africa. It contains the hope to achieve global goals through sustainable development.

Among the important issues of common concern discussed in the summit, the eradication of poverty is one of the most crucial social problems to be tackled. On the road map toward the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, it is clearly stated that the developmental goals focus on sustainable development through poverty eradication and emphasizes the importance of halving the number of people who currently live on one dollar a day or less.

Any effort to achieve sustainable development demands a concerted effort to reduce poverty, including finding solutions for ending hunger, malnutrition and disease. To achieve progress, developing countries will need the political and financial commitment of their richer partners in the West.

Third World countries suffering incessantly from poverty, hunger, malnutrition and disease should receive special attention from the Summit. It is hoped that the integrated way-outs resulting from the Summit will be thoroughly implemented through concrete action.

However, it is not only the existing poverty problem that poses a great challenge; social inequality or the widening gap between the rich and the poor has become a common view of our everyday lives. In almost every corner of the Third World, we can see desperate scenes showing inappropriate dwellings, unfortunate children and women begging on the street, and the elderly walking helplessly. On the other side, however, fortunate and rich families can afford to live in luxurious homes without being disturbed by the existing social problems that surround their environment. These kinds of scenes happen in almost all big cities throughout Indonesia.

While waiting for a traffic light to turn green, we often see poverty-stricken old women walking over to those expensive luxury cars asking for something to eat. While waiting for the next train at the station, we also witness a dirty young boy carrying a broom approaching a well-dressed young girl, who is smoking while she keys in a short message (SMS) on her phone, to ask also for something to eat. These touching incidents show us that disparity really hurts and is very insulting.

LYNDA SOETITO, Jakarta