Kartono re-elected chairman of parenthood association

SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): Kartono Muhamad, a well-known physician and columnist, was re-elected chairman of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI) at a congress that ended yesterday.

Winning 56 votes, Kartono defeated his competitors, economist Prijono Tjiptoherijanto and Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono, who got 26 and four votes respectively.

An affiliate of the London-based International Planned Parenthood Federation since 1963, PKBI has been pioneering birth control programs in Indonesia since its foundation in 1957.

Now, PKBI is known for its role in various family planning development programs in rural areas and impoverished urban centers.

Kartono, also chief of the Indonesian Medical Association, said one of his main priorities is to set up training courses for PKBI's volunteers so that they could become trainers themselves.

Currently, PKBI has less than 50 trainers for its 6,000 volunteers posted across Indonesia, he said. He also plans to launch training programs on how to improve relationships between parents and children.

The training programs will target not only the poor in the villages but also better-off families in cities, where people are not prepared for the cultural shocks that result from increasingly inter-related world communities.

PKBI's performance has also impressed the International Planned Parenthood Federation for East, South East Asia and Oceania, which sends a representative to the congress.

"PKBI has a very strong network of volunteers who come from every walk of life, from ordinary workers to noted physicians," Pritam Singh, the representative, said.

PKBI is striving to become financially independent in 20 to 30 years. At present, it obtains 50 percent of its money from the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

According to Singh, of his numerous chapters in the Asia- Pacific region, only those in Australia, New Zealand and Japan are financially independent. (arf)