Soeharto dedicates national days to the poor

WONOGIRI, Central Java (JP): President Soeharto yesterday dedicated the national Agriculture Day, Cooperatives Day and Family Planning Day to the poor people of Indonesia.

The President returned to the once poor village of Wuryantoro in Wonogiri, where he spent part of his childhood, to celebrate the three national days.

"I lived in Wuryantoro from 1929 to 1935, so I can feel the suffering of the poor people. It is for this reason I intend to help them," said the 73-year-old head of state, who lived there with his uncle and aunt.

In his speech, Soeharto said that poor people, or the 26 million officially classified as living below the poverty line, should not be treated as mere targets of government programs. "They should be encouraged to become independent," he said.

Soeharto recalled that Wonogiri was once known for its poverty and infertile land, and was often referred to as a "minus" area.

The name "Wonogiri" itself means forest of rocks.

"But development has changed this town into a fertile area and the people are now busily improving their villages," he said.

Soeharto acknowledged that poverty eradication was not an easy task as it was related to other aspects of life, such as the geographical conditions of the area, mobility of the population, and the levels of education and health.

He said the government is currently helping those living below the poverty line through various approaches, among them the provision of soft loans to farmers.

The largest proportion of the country's poorest people are farmers and fishermen, he said.

Happy families

Ways in which they can improve their welfare include becoming members of cooperatives, "and participating in the national family-planning program so that they have a chance to create small, happy and prosperous families," Soeharto said.

He added that the family-planning program has enabled Indonesia to reduce its annual population growth rate to 1.6 percent at present from over three percent in the 1960s.

"Now, and in the years to come, we should do all we can to eradicate the poverty which is surrounding our brothers and sisters," he said.

This is the seventh time that the National Agriculture Day, the National Cooperatives Day and the National Family Planning Day have been celebrated at the same time.

Aside from President and Mrs. Tien Soeharto, the commemoration was attended by Minister of Agriculture Sjarifuddin Baharsjah, State Minister of Population/Chairman of the National Family Planning Board Haryono Suyono and Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya. (har/pwn)