Small budgets hamper basic services

Small budgets hamper basic services

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia is unlikely to make quick progress in improving the
lives of its people as the budgets for education and health, two
sectors deemed to be the most important for human development,
are still far from adequate.

Officials at the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of
National Education said on Thursday that despite continuous
demands for budget increases, the government always turned a deaf
ear to their calls.

Nonetheless, there has been always enough money to buy
Russian-made Sukhoi jetfighters, wage a war in Aceh and send
government officials or councillors all around the world on
pleasure trips but not enough money to educate and provide
healthcare for the poor.

Secretary-general of the Ministry of Health Dadi Argadireja
said that budget for the health sector, totaling a bit over Rp 4
trillion (US$488 million), accounted for only 1.6 percent of
gross domestic product (GDP).

"It is still well below the five-percent threshold set by the
World Health Organization," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said that with the limited funding available, the ministry
had been tasked with providing basic health services for the
poor, those living in remote areas, and mothers and infants.

The official said that the Ministry of Health had in fact
proposed a budget of Rp 12 trillion for next year, but he was
quick to add that there was little chance that this would be
approved.

"Although this amount would not be able to cover all the
necessary spending in the ministry, I believe it would help
provide health services for a greater number of people," he said.

In a recent report by the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), Indonesia was found to lag behind other countries in
Southeast Asia in terms of basic services such as access to
schools and healthcare. Of 175 countries surveyed in the report,
Indonesia ranked 112th in the Human Development Index.

Separately, the secretary-general at the Ministry of National
Education, Baedhowi, said a lack of funding had stopped the
ministry from providing cheap and quality education through
state-run schools.

He told the Post that the Rp 13 trillion earmarked for running
education programs nationwide merely accounted for four percent
of the total state budget.

The amended 1945 Constitution stipulates that the budget for
education should account for 20 percent of the total budget.
However, there are no legal consequences for the government
should it disregard this provision.

As a result, state-run schools lag behind private schools in
delivering good lessons, the official said.

A report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that Indonesian education
budgets have never reached more than four percent of GDP, or 20
percent of the State Budget. Indonesia spends far less on
education than other developing countries like Bangladesh, Nepal,
Malawi, Ethiopia and Togo.