East Nusa Tenggara remains poor

East Nusa Tenggara remains poor

By Yemris Fointuna

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): East Nusa Tenggara or NTT,
the southeast province of 566 islands, has a large wealth of
untapped natural resources in its arid land and vast waters.

The people of NTT, or Flobamora, are hospitable and hard
working. In the past, owing to its beauty and appeal, the
territory was a magnet for westerners in search of spices.

Its unfertile soil, though, has not robbed the archipelago of
its various natural wonders and cultural diversity. While other
provinces enjoy six months of wet season a year, NTT only has
four months of it.

Among its most precious assets are sandalwood, which can be
found in Timor and Sumba, the triple-colored Lake Kelimutu in
Ende-Flores, Komodo dragons (monitor lizards) in Komodo island
and rare canaries in Alor.

Now, 56 years after Indonesia achieved independence, NTT's
development continues to be neglected. Social welfare and
decentralization have only been a mere slogan inherited from the
New Order era.

NTT has been almost unchanged for the past 32 years. Only a
few privileged people have enjoyed education.

Of the region's population of 3.9 million who are scattered in
an area of 47,349 square kilometers, 80 percent are poor, while
an estimated 1.39 million of them are jobless.

The various poverty eradication programs in NTT have been
misused by corrupt officials both in Jakarta and in this
province. The province has received presidential aid, fuel
subsidies, and not to mention grants and assistance from the
World Bank, the United States Agency for Development (USAID) and
other donor countries. However, a large portion of the funds has
gone unaccounted.

NTT's 13 regencies and one municipality, viz regencies of
Kupang, Southern Central Timor, Northern Central Timor, Belu,
Alor, East Flores, Manggarai, Ngada, Ende, Lembata, Sikka, East
Sumba, West Sumba and Kupang municipality, are equally
impoverished and disadvantaged in terms of education and health
care.

In 1980, NTT's literacy rate was only 65.01 percent. It rose
to 81.48 percent in 1997. Today, the number of illiterates here
is 376,170; elementary school dropouts, 989,890; those who have
completed elementary school, 880,890; those who have completed
junior high school, 240,000, those who have completed high
school, 155,000; and those with university degrees, 45,762,
according to official figures.

The region's lack of qualified human resources considerably
affects its development plans. Eighty percent of the people of
NTT live in isolated villages. Most of the people in the
province's 2,207 villages and 309 subdistricts are involved in
agriculture, farming and forestry, but yet find it hard to earn a
decent living.

Eres Erasmus Sikki, head of Tunbaun village in Amarasi
district, Kupang regency, said the development activities so far
had been concentrated in urban areas.

Eres' statement has some truth. For example, it takes between
three hours and four hours to reach the hilly Tunbaun, which is
only 40 kilometers from the NTT capital of Kupang because the
road leading to it is very bumpy. In the wet season, the village,
which serves as Kupang's major food supplier, becomes
inaccessible by car.

However, roads in the urban areas are tarred and well-
maintained. This contrast is, among others, the result of a
strategy known as "rural development by urban bureaucrats". Rural
development plans were made without seeking inputs from
villagers. Thus the rural people did not benefit from the
development programs.

The poor infrastructure in rural areas has hampered
transportation of agricultural produce from the rural areas to
urban markets. Consequently, the children's education is
sacrificed because their parent's cannot earn enough money.

Meanwhile, NTT's villagers, whose houses are made of bamboo
stems and dried grass, do not live in sanitary surroundings as
they share their homes with cattle and poultry.

Infant mortality in the province stands at 47.7 per 1,000 live
births and the maternity death rate is 86.0 per 1,000 live
births. The life expectancy is 61.8 years for males and 65.6
years for females.

NTT's hilly topography and vast span of islands make access by
any mode of transportation difficult. NTT only has 13 general
hospitals, 209 public health centers (Puskesmas) and 171 mobile
health service units. Hospitals and health facilities are also
situated far from rural settlements.

Health personnel is also far too small in number compared to
the region's population. NTT only has 212 physicians, 2,381
nurses and 2,397 midwives.

The economic activities of villagers in NTT are far less
dynamic than those of people living in urban areas. Although most
of NTT's villagers spend the whole day farming or looking after
their livestock, they only earn a small amount of money. They
sell their produce once a week in the city if transportation is
available.

NTT's economic growth rate is only 2.89 percent while its per
capita income is Rp 1.3 million a year. NTT's economic plight is
real. Some NTT villagers can only afford to eat twice a day of
meager portions of nutritionally poor food.