Foot soldiers in the war against poverty

Foot soldiers in the war against poverty

Kisah-Kisah IDT, Penuturan 100 Sarjana Pendamping (Stories of the
IDT Program, Perspectives of 100 Participating Scholars)
Edited by Mubyarto
Aditya Media Press Yogyakarta, 1997
Price Rp 22, 500
557 pp.

JAKARTA (JP): The national program to confront poverty has at
its vanguard Presidential Instruction No. 5/1993, which then
became known as the Aid Program to Least Developed Villages, or
IDT. Along with the increasing popularity of the above, efforts
to eradicate poverty, in whatever form they take, have become
clumped under the IDT umbrella in public perceptions.

This is despite the fact that IDT is merely a part of the
overall fight against poverty under a broader national movement.
Now in its fourth year, the IDT program has entered 28,223
villages, involving 3.4 million heads of households and 123,000
community groups.

In the structural mechanism of this program, one of the most
important components, apart from funding, is assistance.
Individuals are assigned to help community groups in running
their enterprises and organizing their members. Usually, these
assistants hail from the immediate community, and are residents
who have already established a better quality of life.

Especially for the most underdeveloped villages, the central
and regional governments assign assistants drawn from the
academic community who wish to serve in rural communities. At
least 4,000 of these scholars, on call around the clock, have
been posted in the country's poorest communities.

Some of their experiences in the course of their duties have
been compiled in this book, with the 100 entries culled from 790
submissions to the Ministry of National Development Planning
(Bappenas).

The writings illustrate that this effort to eradicate poverty
is a truly extraordinary struggle, and one which requires a
dedication without hope of material rewards.

Testimony to the sometimes daunting problems confronted is the
experience of Ujang Taofik Hidayat, an assistant in Kokondao, a
village in Jayawijaya, Irian Jaya.

"It is not easy to reach Kokondao," Ujang writes. "From the
capital of the regency, one must walk for 11 hours to reach the
village. The villagers told me I was the first government worker
from outside Irian Jaya to ever set foot in the village. All of
the villagers gave me strange looks." (pp. 523-524)

From these stories, it is clear that the IDT program is
undoubtedly a breakthrough in the war on poverty. While the
program is aimed at demolishing the thick wall excluding the
poor, it also supplies the first notions of belief, hope and a
future for the unfortunate.

In addition to providing a positive psychological influence,
the program's funds have stimulated economic activities of the
community. Sangir Talaud in Sulawesi is one example. With funding
of Rp 60 million, the program has worked with sidewalk kiosks and
shops to reduce costs of essential consumer goods by 25 percent
to 30 percent. (pp. 397-402)

Another notable positive effect is its motivation of
communities to strive for their own independence, revealed in
different examples. The inclusion of the physically disabled in
the program can be claimed among its successes. Related to this
is the routine assistance to the elderly from profits of the IDT
communal groups.

The diverse stories of these 100 assistants are truly
fascinating. In general, their experiences are humorous and
unique, without ever straying from the focus of their main role
of providing assistance. Realities of their toil will hopefully
strengthen an understanding that the poverty eradication movement
can be compared to an eternal light; once lit, it should never be
extinguished.

From the observations and experiences in the field, this book
can rightfully be described as a first-hand source on the
program. And if experience is the best teacher, then the valuable
lessons from these scholars should be drawn upon to improve and
perfect the IDT.

Let us hope that the real-life experiences in this work, which
was published especially for Yayasan Bina Bangsa and Bappenas,
will strengthen the conviction of all parties that bettering the
welfares of least developed villages is not a pipe dream. The
successes are real, evident by the better quality of life of the
people and the daily decreases in those villages classified as
least developed.

-- R. Masri Sareb Putra

The writer is an editor in a publishing company in Jakarta.