RI can wipe out poverty by year 2000: Soeharto

RI can wipe out poverty by year 2000: Soeharto

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said over the weekend that
by the beginning of the 21st century there will be no more
Indonesians living below the poverty line.

Speaking with locals from the Manunggal village in Kutai
regency, East Kalimantan, the President cited that 25.9 million
Indonesians today live in poverty.

"The figure is expected to be reduced as we continue with our
development programs," he said. He then added that strides were
being made to ensure the success of the anti-poverty campaign
under the current Five-Year Development Plan, which ends in 1999,
or, at the latest, during the next one.

Soeharto was speaking with villagers engaged in development
activities and members of the Family Welfare Movement, a woman's
organization.

He added that 22,000 out of Indonesia's 65,000 villages are
still regarded as having been left behind by development.

To help develop rural areas, the government has increased
development subsidies from Rp 100,000 (US$49) per village to Rp 6
million ($2,900) each, as reported by Antara.

The President said that he was proud to hear that a local
village called Bangun Rejo had been able to increase its rice
production to 5.5 tons per hectare of paddy field. The previous
production capacity was not reported.

Soeharto reported that rice production capacities were still
improvable now that the Ministry of Agriculture has discovered a
quick yielding paddy seed which is able to yield crops within
four months instead of six.

At the occasion Soeharto also called on women to pay more
attention to the welfare of children by protecting them from the
negative influence of information filtering in from the outside
world through modern communications systems.

Many Indonesian families have complained that their children
are spending more and more time watching TV programs at the
expense of their school duties.

The President suggested that the negative impact of foreign
programming could also be neutralized by more religious education
for children.

After the dialog Soeharto, accompanied by East Kalimantan
Governor H.M. Ardans, visited a development exhibition.(tis)