Homemakers must make ends meet: Soeharto

Homemakers must make ends meet: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto told housewives yesterday he
realized they were facing serious economic hardship but hoped
they would do their best to provide nutritious foods for their
children.

He urged mothers to serve simple but healthy meals for their
families because these were important for their health.

"The current economic and monetary crisis causes a heavy
burden for housewives, I hope that they will be creative and
thrifty in meeting their living requirements," Soeharto said when
opening the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) workshop at the State
Palace yesterday.

The grassroots family welfare movement operates across the
country down to village levels. PKK won international recognition
in 1995 when UNESCO awarded it the Noma Prize for its leading
role in the national campaign against illiteracy and
malnutrition.

PKK is traditionally chaired by the wife of the minister of
home affairs because the ministry has direct access to villages.

The President also told wives to help their husbands in living
in the crisis by trying to obtain additional income for the
family.

"With their skills, mothers can reduce their husband's burdens
in earning money by developing cottage industries," the President
said.

Stephen J. Woodhouse, the Unicef chief representative for
Indonesia, said earlier this month the economic crisis would
likely result in a major setback for the country's development
resources.

Unicef data reveals that about eight million children under
five in the country are seriously malnourished. About 14 percent
of the country's births are underweight and about 45 percent of
one-year-old children are malnourished.

Approximately 140,000 children die from malnutrition per year,
or 2,500 every week, in Indonesia.

Kontan weekly tabloid last week reported that the Gross
National Product (GNP) was currently less than US$350, compared
to about $1,000 before the economic crisis hit the country last
July.

"We believe that in the future, PKK would give an even greater
contribution," the President said. (prb)