Harmoko says anti-poverty fight successful

Harmoko says anti-poverty fight successful

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Information Harmoko, fresh from a
whirlwind tour of 48 districts, said on Saturday that the
government's poverty alleviation drive is showing encouraging
results.

"From what I've seen, the IDT has been quite successful in
bolstering the income of villagers," Harmoko told journalists on
Saturday, referring to the Presidential Instructions on backward
villages program (IDT).

He was speaking a few hours after concluding an 11-day tour of
48 districts across Java. The annual tour is dubbed the Ramadhan
Safari.

Harmoko said that during the tour he engaged in frank dialog
with villagers, who informed him that the presidential aid
program was bearing fruit and improving their welfare.

"They are talking about goats being able to yield furniture
and cattle," he said metaphorically.

The government in 1994 launched the IDT program in which to
date it has parceled out amounts of Rp 20 million (US$8,700) to
more than 22,000 villages which were classified as among the
poorest in the country.

The money is used by the people as seed capital for economic
activities.

Harmoko maintained during the 3,300 kilometers he traveled,
that he witnessed successful and enterprising endeavors of the
villagers who had ventured into all sorts of businesses, from
goat breeding to making men's ties.

"From a number of places that I visited, I received reports
that after receiving an injection of IDT funds, the participants
of the program have been able to increase their income faster
than the increases in the government-set minimum wages," he said.

He admitted that there were a few occurrences where the funds
were misused by the recipients.

He said some used the funds to finance resettlement, some even
paid medical bills. "The excesses were small compared to the
overall results of the IDT," he added.

He stressed the need to consider planning for the villagers
who were able to raise their standard of living.

"We must consider granting them access to credit to finance
their small enterprises so their economic activities can continue
to grow. For instance we must take into account deregulation in
these villages," he said.

Meanwhile in Padang, West Sumatra, Minister of Home Affairs
Yogie SM said on Saturday that since the government began the IDT
program, more and more villages have claimed to be impoverished.

"Before we had the IDT, there weren't many village chiefs who
would admit their villages were impoverished or underdeveloped,"
Yogie said as quoted by Antara.

Official statistics show that nearly 26 million of 195 million
Indonesians still live below the poverty line, which is measured
on the individual basis of nutritional intake of 2,100 calories
per day. (mds)