Rural development still top priority
Rural development still top priority
JAKARTA (JP): Rural development is to remain the government's chief priority in developing the country so long as there are backward villages to be found, President Soeharto said yesterday.
In a speech launching the month-long national campaign to mobilize grassroots movements, Soeharto said rural development is of utmost importance to the government because that is where the majority of Indonesia's population lives.
"As long as our villages have not moved up, or become prosperous, our national development has not succeeded," he said during the ceremony in Duriaasi, a village just outside Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi.
"The government will continue to focus its attention on rural development. From year to year, the budget allocated by the government to build villages has increased," he said.
It was only through relentless efforts that Indonesia managed to reduce the number of people who live in poverty, he added.
But in spite of the success, millions of people in Indonesia are still living in poverty, he said, underscoring the role that grassroots organizations must play in the fight against poverty.
Duriaasi was given the honor to host the campaign's launching ceremony because of its remarkable development success through the Lembaga Ketahanan Masyarakat Desa (LKMD), a nationwide grassroots movement with strong government support, and the Lembaga Musyawarah Desa (LMD), the village deliberative council.
Besides launching the campaign, the President inaugurated a second ferro-nickel processing unit belonging to state-owned PT Aneka Tambang in Pomalaa near Kendari, and a new stadium and a community hall, both in Duriaasi, Antara reported.
Soeharto said that as villages strive to develop, they must retain many of their positive characteristics, such as the "familial spirit", the strong feeling of solidarity and the spirit of mutual assistance.
He appealed to village leaders to win the support of the people and to set good examples.
"A good leader is one who is supported by the people because of his integrity, not because of their fear of his power," he said.
In Indonesia a leader is a role model for the community, he said. "Playing such a role is a huge responsibility."
A village leader must be able to discuss with their people the problems facing the village and work out solutions, he said. "This is a tradition that should be continued today," he said.
The President also underlined the need for rural people to develop the habit of saving part of their income as a means of improving their living conditions. (emb)