RI can learn from India

RI can learn from India

It is a matter of pride and joy that President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono (SBY) has chosen to visit India just after the
conclusion of the APEC meeting in South Korea. It is also a
matter of pride that every president of Indonesia from Sukarno to
SBY will have paid a state visit to India.

As per reports in The Jakarta Post, SBY has sought cooperation
from India in the IT and defense sectors. India today is a super
power in the software industry, but in the defense industry we
are still a small player.

But maybe we are the right size for the defense needs of
Indonesia in terms of spare parts, etc. While these two sectors
are important to Indonesia, and India can surely become a strong
and useful long-term partner, I also hope that SBY finds time to
study the great success of India in mass education.

Today, through low-cost (sometimes no-cost) schools run by
municipalities and governments, no willing Indian is denied
education irrespective of his income. How India has achieved this
could serve as a very important guide for a country like
Indonesia, where education is expensive and a lot of parents are
burdened by the inevitable loans needed to enable them to put
their children through school. Cheap books could be another area
of cooperation.

A further area of interest is the cost of medical treatment in
Indonesia, which is so high that the man in the street finds it
very difficult to get proper treatment at reasonable cost and
instead has to turn to traditional medicine.

The Indonesian government could study the drug price control
system in India that makes it possible to get most essential
drugs at reasonable prices. The prices of all medicines are
printed on the package and one does not need to pay more than
that price.

There are also a large number of dispensaries and there is
healthy competition among them. Many dispensaries even provide
free home delivery. By comparison, we have to spend a lot of time
and money to get medicines in Indonesia. A small Indonesian group
could visit India to study this issue.

Though the quality of service may not be 5-star, the ordinary
Indian citizen can nevertheless get reasonably good treatment
free of cost in many hospitals run by municipal corporations and
governments.

While these may be low-profile areas compared to IT and
defense, they may be closer to the heart of the man on the street
in Indonesia.

K.B. KALE, Jakarta