Susilo seeks accurate data on malnutrition cases

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As malnutrition cases are becoming widespread across the nation, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono instructed all governors nationwide on Tuesday to provide him with accurate, detailed reports on malnutrition in the provinces.

The reports have to be handed over to the President by Thursday when the governors will meet the President in Jakarta to address the problem.

"Don't cover up development problems just to make me happy. I am keen to know why malnutrition still exists," Susilo told a gathering of businessmen on Tuesday in Jakarta.

Accurate data is badly needed to produce correct policy to address development and malnutrition problems, said Susilo.

The deaths of several children due to malnutrition made headlines after the West Nusa Tenggara provincial administration revealed that eight children under five had died of marasmus, or advanced malnutrition, since early this year. The death of the infants is ironic as the province, which is a horticultural farming area, is in the country's rice belt and is a major rice producer.

After the story on the death of the infants, there were media reports that there were cases of severe malnutrition in other areas in the country, including Lampung and East Nusa Tenggara provinces, sparking public concern nationwide.