Poverty our main problem

Poverty our main problem

A news report said last week that a woman gave birth at a garbage dump site in Tangerang. The poor woman cried desperately for help while in labor, and finally some passersby helped her. The woman and the baby were rushed to a nearby hospital. They were saved, but it was not clear who would pay the hospital fees. What we know is that the women said that she could not afford to raise her new born baby.

Such a news was by all means touching. And most of us may say that life is tough.

The woman is just one of millions of stories on poverty which has been overwhelming a majority of people in the country, especially since 1998.

In such a situation our anger came to a boiling point after we found out what the Raudhatul Jannah foundation did. The foundation was claimed (by House Speaker Akbar Tandjung) to be authorized to distribute staple food for the poor as part of the social safety net. (Akbar was found guilty and sentenced to three years for defrauding the public of Rp 40 billion in this project. Unfortunately he refused to be jailed feeling innocent.)

While we are now dizzy with the Bali mayhem, we should not forget this old problem: Poverty.

Poverty cannot be solved through charity. Improving the people's skills and providing them with job opportunities might answer the poverty. Unfortunately job opportunities will not come about unless there is new investment. And investors will not invest their money unless security is fully guaranteed.

We still have three promising industrial sectors which should be further explored to curb poverty: Mining and energy, plantations and forestry. Unfortunately we have yet to manage these three industries properly.

-- Kompas, Jakarta