Failing to try

Sadly, there is little of encouragement in Indonesia's performance in this year's Human Development Report. The country continues to find itself in the bottom third of the list of 177 countries.

There is no doubt that the economic crisis has severely limited the state's ability to pay for basic development needs -- health, education, food and physical security. The pie has shrunk considerably, and even then about one-third of the pie goes toward debt payments.

The fact that the country continues to be unable to provide fundamental services to its people should come as no surprise. What is alarming is that after so many years, there seems to be little genuine effort to correct this problem.

It is sad to hear the same official rhetoric (excuses) repeated over and over again: priorities had to be shifted due to the crisis, high unemployment stripped the people's ability to improve their welfare, the state does not have the money to spend on human development.

We understand the multitude of demands made on the state and we acknowledge that only a limited amount of funds can be allocated for human development. But the fact of the matter is that the provision of basic services has simply not been a priority for the previous or present administrations.

The government may revel in its macroeconomic accomplishments, including raising per capita GDP by 9 percent, but at the microeconomic level the suffering continues.

The numbers speak for themselves: average life expectancy has gone down this year compared to 2003, from 66.6 to 66.2 years, enrollment in primary, secondary and tertiary education has fallen by 1 percent to 64 percent, the literacy rate has dropped from 87.9 percent to 87.3 percent.

How important are education and health services to the administration?

Let us review the government's priorities when it initially submitted the 2004 budget. It proposed a 100 percent increase in defense and security spending, raising the allocation in this sector to Rp 10.5 trillion, compared to the less than 1.5 percent increase in spending for education and health, bringing the two sectors' total funding to Rp 20.2 trillion.

If this is not damning enough, the government's commitment to education and health services is several times lower than that of neighboring countries. The percentage of GDP that Indonesia allocates for health services is not even half of that of the Philippines and four times lower than Thailand.

And this despite the fact the Constitution requires 20 percent of the state budget to be spent on education, and that seven million children between the ages of seven and 15 are not in the compulsory nine-year education program, and another nine million children between the ages of 15 and 18 are not attending high school.

The saddest part of all, according to the Human Development Report, is that "contrary to the conventional assumption", financing basic human development rights is "well within Indonesia's reach". Additional resources could be appropriated without needlessly pushing the state budget into an unsustainable deficit.

Indonesia will never be a great nation if it neglects to invest in the future. It is a grave mistake to say that the greatest asset of this country is its oil, gas or precious metals. No, the greatest asset should be its skilled and vigorous people.

We should ask the question, what is the purpose of the Indonesian state if it cannot provide basic welfare for its people? What is the value of territorial integrity if the people within these borders continue to suffer because of inattention?

It is one thing to say that we have tried our best and failed, it is another to fail simply because we did not try.