No more poverty within 10 years, expert says

JAKARTA (JP): The government expects to free its people of poverty throughout Indonesia in another ten years, an expert said.

Mubyarto, an assistant to the state minister/chairman of the national development planning for improvement of equity and the handling of poverty, told reporters yesterday that within the next five years the number of poor people will be reduced from 25.9 million to 12 million.

"At the end of the seventh Five-Year Development Program (in the year 2004), we expect that there will be no more poor people in Indonesia," he said.

Through the least-developed villages aid program, the government has provided Rp 400 billion (US$ 178 million) in grants to the poor, to help them improve the quality of their lives, he said.

He also pointed out to the new policy of the minister of finance, which provides collateral-free loans of up to Rp 50 million (US$ 22,200) for small-scale businesses belonging to the poor.

Speaking after a seminar on the development of informal economy, as a program of the celebration of the 11th anniversary of Open University, Mubyarto said the aid program for the least- developed villages is a way to solve poverty.

The program can be claimed a success if, between five and 10 years, the number of poor people decreases, Mubyarto said.

Success

Another way to judge the success is by evaluating the increase of their income, he added.

Mubyarto also urged rich people to pay attention to the condition of the less-privileged around them.

"The rich can offer helping hands to the poor," he said.

The program has been disrupted for a while due to rapid development of the modern economic sector, he later explained.

"However, the informal sector has survived, although it has to undergo involution, where the condition is becoming more complex and difficult to understand," he said.

According to Mubyarto, the program helps mobilize the people's economy.

"We should have trust in the poor, that they are capable enough to improve their lives," he said.

Bambang Ismawan, head of the Bina Swadaya Organization, told the seminar that the informal sector is undertaken by people who do not have lots of capital.

"They rely on their own forces." Independence is their characteristic, he said.

The informal sector is usually weak in organization, human resources, productivity and bargaining power, he added. (05)