Poverty is indeed frightening

How pathetic it is to see the people who live along the streets between the cities of Semarang and Kudus in Central Java!

Lying along the streets is a river that is nearly dry. In its murky brown water float garbage from various kinds of organic and inorganic material.

Think how disgusting it would be for people in their sound mind to consume such water.

However, people living along that river have no choice but to make use of the murky water for their daily needs during the long drought.

This scene between Semarang and Kudus is only a glimpse of the poverty that afflicts many parts of Indonesia.

Indeed, poverty is a frightening phenomenon that should no longer be taken for granted. The poverty rate, which once dropped significantly, has again begun to climb to 16 percent.

If only we open our eyes wide and look at poverty in our community, especially those in Indonesia's major cities, we can see that the poverty rate is heading toward an alarming level.

Is there any preventive measure we could take to deal with this haunting problem?

The destitute people of our country should immediately be helped before it is too late, because we cannot wait until tomorrow or next year.

The time is now. Today is the day to help them without any delay. We simply cannot afford to be neutral in this.

-- Kompas, Jakarta