Seminar on poverty

Seminar on poverty

From Neraca

A seminar dealing with poverty was recently held in one of Jakarta's star-rated hotels. The seminar was led by the Ministry of Transmigration, and attended by two hundred and fifty local and foreign delegates.

The seminar covered matters related to resettlement and efforts to fight poverty. Several working papers were discussed and later formulated.

The subject was quite interesting, since it attracted local and foreign experts, such as ministers from developing nations, including Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Brazil, Myanmar.

The seminar successfully enhanced understanding of mainly NGOs, who are mostly ignorant about transmigration in Indonesia. The seminar also parried negative opinions from foreign NGOs.

However, despite the successes the recent seminar made, dissatisfied voices were heard. Why was a seminar dealing with poverty held in a luxury hotel? Straight after the seminar, attendants were led on a tour through the transmigration location.

Other voices expressed concern about seminar funds. How much has it all cost? It was discovered that disbursements were, more or less, Rp. 1 billion. With that money we could do a lot for the betterment of the people, such as more and better crop seeds can be bought, more school buildings can be built, etc.

There were others who questioned the on-going transmigration program dating from colonial days and whose colonial name was later changed into another with more local flavor. Aside from the achievements mentioned, the seminar also discussed problems and failures.

The question here is, why was the transmigration program not advertised abroad by our embassies? This lack of foresight has resulted in foreign people ending their contribution of viewpoints.

MUJIANTO PARTOSENTONO

Jakarta