Poverty alleviation programs exclude those without IDs

Poverty alleviation programs exclude those without IDs

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

There are many theories to explain why the government's various
programs to eliminate poverty have been futile. In Jakarta, one
problem is clear: Over 100,000 poor do not have ID cards, which
make public services unavailable to them.

Many of the impoverished Jakartans do not have access to free
health services, cannot buy cheap rice, cannot obtain soft loans
or receive other aid from the government because they cannot show
the card that proves that they are "legal" residents.

Head of the City Health Agency Abdul Chalik Masulili, for
example, admitted on Thursday that the various health programs in
the capital were only for those who had Jakarta ID cards.

"All health facilities for the poor are only for those who
have the health cards (kartu sehat), while the cards can only be
obtained by those who can show their city identity cards," said
Chalik at a discussion on poverty elimination at a five-star
hotel here.

People without ID cards are excluded from the city health
programs, for other reasons as well. Chalik said that the policy
was taken in order to curb the flow of migrants into the capital.

"If we give them the health cards, many more people will flock
to Jakarta," he added.

Overpopulation is one of the serious problems in the capital.
The city administration estimates that every year, about 250,000
people migrate to the city.

Governor Sutiyoso, who has failed to curb the influx of the
impoverished masses, earlier said that he planned to make Jakarta
a closed city. But the idea received strong criticism from human
rights activists. In an effort to discourage unskilled people
from entering the city, the administration periodically launches
controversial door-to-door raids to arrest people who fail to
show their city ID cards or other documents.

In Thursday's seminar, Jakarta Statistics Office presented its
results from 2000 which found that the total population in the
capital was 8.38 million or some 2.23 million families. While the
total of absolute poor was some 340,000 people. It also revealed
that 32,983 poor families or over 100,000 people did not have
identity cards.

Other data presented by the National Family Planning
Coordinating Board (BKKBN) showed that early this year, the
number of poor families, which it divided into three levels,
reached 360,641, more than one million individuals.

There are many government programs to combat poverty and to
improve the welfare of the poor, including the social safety net
(JPS), which is applied nationwide. Jakarta also has the
Subdistrict Society Empowerment Program (PPMK) and various other
schemes for family business development.

Under the PPMK program, which started last year, each of the
167 subdistricts in the city received Rp 250 million (US$28,400)
in soft loans, which was handled by each subdistrict council. But
in some areas, the implementation of the program was reportedly
marred by the practice of corruption due to the lack of
transparency.

Commenting on the city's policy in dealing with the poor, M.
Berkah Gamulya of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) said that the
city administration should treat everybody equal.

"It is really unfair if the poor who do not have ID cards are
not helped. All those people need similar help. If the government
does not give a hand, who will help them? In any city in the
world, such groups of people always exist and the authority has
the responsibility to help them," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the first thing which should be done was that the
city administration had to recognize the presence of the
squatters as a reality in all urban societies.

"Only after the city administration recognizes their
informality, then we can talk about how to help such a group of
people," Gamulya said.

"What the city authority has done so far to them is to destroy
the places where they live and the places where they do business,
without giving them any choice," he added, referring to the
evictions conducted by the city public order officers against the
poor.

Paulus Wirutomo, an urban social affairs observer from the
University of Indonesia, also stressed the need for the city
administration to take responsibility for the fate of all people
living in the city.

Criteria of poor families: 1. Area of home is less than 8
square meters, 2. A dirt floor, 3. No access to clean water,
4. No toilet, 5. No furniture, 6. No meat, fish or eggs for one
week, 7. Not able to buy new clothes for one year.

A family is categorized as poor if it meets three of the above.