Flying high in Jakarta while poverty reigns at home

Abdul Khalik The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Notions that most African countries are poor, or less-developed Asian countries, like Myanmar or Cambodia, have no money to develop their countries would seem to be wrong, at least if the lines of jets parked at Halim Perdanakusumah airport in East Jakarta are anything to go by.

Dozens of either Boeing or Airbus jets are parked in the eastern part of the airport under heavy security provided by the Presidential Guard, the Indonesian Air Force, and airport personnel.

First Lieutenant Aswien, an officer based at the airport, said that all the presidents that landed at Halim Perdanakusumah had traveled by jet, and most of the planes were waiting in the airport to take them home again.

"Several planes flew home immediately and will come back later to pick up delegates, but most will be staying here at least until Monday," he told The Jakarta Post.

From a brief inspection, there would seem to be little difference between the jets belonging to the rich countries and those of the poorer countries.

Several presidents of African countries, such as Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Tanzania, used Boeings while other African leaders, including those of Algeria and Sudan, traveled to Jakarta on Airbuses.

Less-developed Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia, preferred Airbuses while others, including Nepal and Iran, used Boeings.

Besides planes the from the less-developed countries, two planes with Japanese flags, and one each with Chinese and Malaysian flags were also seen among the planes.

In stark contrast to their leaders' multimillion dollar planes, most people in Africa and in many Asian countries still live below the poverty line.

The 12.6 million people of Zimbabwe, for instance, have annual incomes of less than US$1,900 per capita (calculated using purchasing power parity), while income per capita of the around 137 million Nigerians is less than US$1,000. The poorest is Tanzania, which has income per capita of only US$600.

Cambodia and Vietnam, both Southeast Asian countries, have incomes per capita of less than US$2,000 and US$2,300 respectively.

By way of comparison, Indonesia and South Africa, the host and co-host of the summit, have per capita incomes of around US$3,000 and US$11,000 respectively, while among the developed countries, Japan has a per capita income of around US$30,000.

All the representatives of the participating states are scheduled to go to Bandung to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference on Sunday morning.

"We have guards in every corner of the airport during the summit to make sure all of the planes are safe from whatever threats could arise. No unauthorized persons will be allowed to come near the planes," Aswien said.

The summit committee has laid on five planes owned by state- owned airline Garuda Indonesia and one plane owned by private company Adam Air to transport the delegates from Jakarta to Bandung.