Family planning campaign to continue
JAKARTA (JP): On the eve of the birth of Indonesia's 200 millionth person, State Minister of Population Haryono Suyono appealed to the nation to maintain the drive to curtail population growth through family planning.
"We have to greet the arrival of the 200 millionth baby and other babies that follow as a new source of development strength," Haryono, who also chairs the National Family Planning Board, said yesterday in a seminar on population development.
This in turn would determine the success of the country's future development, he added.
He warned that in spite of the success of the national family planning program, Indonesia's population would continue to increase, probably reaching 260 million by 2119.
Indonesia's population tops the psychological barrier of 200 million today, according to government estimates.
To mark the occasion, President Soeharto has agreed to confer awards on selected babies born today. He is also to name one of the babies.
Several provinces vying for the honor have come up with suggested names. North Sumatra is proposing Duta Rizki Putera for a boy or Duta Rizki Puteri for a girl. East Java suggested Rahmat Nugraha and Rahmi Utami and Central Sulawesi suggested Rahmat and Rahmatillah.
The Office of the State Minister of Population plans to select more than 8,000 of the babies born today across the 27 provinces to receive awards as "role models" for other babies and families.
To qualify, the babies and their parents must meet certain criteria. The baby must be born to legally married parents; the mother must be more than 20 years old; it must be the first or second living child in the family; if it is a second child there must be at least a three-year gap with the previous child as a result of the mother using contraceptives; the mother must have received regular gynecological advice and the baby must be born into a family from a good social background in terms of both education and income.
Haryono said the national family planning program that began in 1969 has cut Indonesia's annual population growth rate from 2.32 percent in 1971-1980, to 1.6 percent today.
Had the growth rate continued at the level it was in the 1970s, the population would be 217 million today and the 200- million mark would have been passed in 1991, he said.
He recalled an even more frightening scenario imagined by the late demographer, Prof. Dr. Iskandar, who once suggested that Indonesia's population would reach 280 million in the year 2000.
The cut in the population growth rate has been achieved even though Indonesia's death rate has declined faster than anticipated.
"The ability to curtail population growth by almost 17 million in 25 years is a great success," the minister said.
"This means that we have managed to reduce the 'burden' represented by the number of people below 25 years old by 17 million. This number exceeds the population of Central Kalimantan, or Sulawesi and Maluku combined, or almost twice Jakarta's population," he said.
Haryono said the success meant reducing a large chunk of the government's burden by having to provide 17 million fewer people with basic health care, access to education, jobs, food and drink and other facilities.
The huge financial saving also meant more money was available to provide better facilities for the existing population, he said.
Haryono said the slowing of the population growth rate is expected to lead to "balanced growth" by 2005, or 2010 at the latest.
This in turn is expected to lead to a zero-growth Indonesian population, as envisaged by the United Nations and the World Bank, by the middle of the 21st century, when the population is estimated to stabilize at 350 million. (12/emb)