Instability, elections hinder poverty reduction

Stevie Emilia, Shanghai

Current instability and the upcoming presidential elections in Indonesia constitute the main hindrance to the national target of halving the poverty rate, economists here said.

On the second day of a World Bank conference on poverty here on Thursday Mohamad Ikhsan of the University of Indonesia raised fears regarding the increase in the number of disadvantaged people including those in conflict areas.

Indonesia is among 189 countries which agreed in 2000 to the Millennium Goals, which include halving the number of people living under the poverty line by 2015.

"Although some areas are rapidly progressing, there are conflict areas such as in Aceh and other areas like East Nusa Tenggara where the number of poor people has increased," the economist said. Special efforts and attention are needed to ensure balanced progress in every area, he added.

Former chief economics minister Saleh Afiff pointed to the ineffectiveness of the Cabinet particularly with ministers resigning to join the country's presidential election in July, with a likely runoff in September.

"We won't even be able to reach the mid-term target because with the election, the Cabinet -- although they are not deliberately putting everything on hold -- don't have the courage to do anything. Even the (former coordinating minister for people's welfare) Jusuf Kalla is campaigning (as running mate to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) so it will be very difficult for us to reach the target," he said.

"How can we reach the (millennium) goals if there is now a vacuum in our government?" Saleh said.

Mohamad Ikhsan said the country "is not working toward improvement." Low budget is commonly cited as a hindrance to improve maternal health and fighting HIV/AIDS, for instance.

"Some local governments just maintain what they have instead of speeding up the process and allocating more funds. In the end, people who are largely still dependent on government programs are left behind," he said.

World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn said at the closing of the event that while there was no single blueprint to reduce poverty, the conference had revealed that large-scale poverty reduction depended on several key factors.

He cited "sustained political commitment and visionary leadership, with continuity over time" and "transparency and accountability to cut corruption".

The conference adopted the Shanghai Agenda for Poverty Reduction which encourages rich countries in particular to intensify assistance to countries that have not benefited from the recent global wave of progress in economic and social development.