The issue of charity

The issue of charity

If the estimate given by World Bank president James Wolfensohn
is correct -- and one must assume it is considering the authority
of the global institution he leads -- about 20 million
Indonesians are at present threatened with destitution due to the
economic crisis. According to Wolfensohn, it is Indonesia's poor
who are feeling the brunt of the crisis and not the wealthy
bankers and industrialists, as unemployment is rising "at really
very scary rates".

After tumbling through the country's inadequate social safety
net, thousands of Indonesians who moved to the cities in the boom
years of the not-so-distant past are returning to their rural
villages, the World Bank president was reported as saying in a
speech to the Overseas Development Council's global issues
conference in Washington recently.

Here in Jakarta, of course, one does not actually need the
research findings of such a prestigious body as the World Bank to
get a grasp of the gravity of the situation. One only has to talk
to people in the streets, in private company offices or even in
their homes, to know that the specter of unemployment and
deprivation, brought about by the recession, weighs heavily on
practically on every Indonesian's mind. To further add to the
general sense of desperate affliction, the light at the end of
the tunnel is currently nowhere in sight.

This is why reports of the International Monetary Fund's
agreement to allow the continuation of government subsidies on
imports of essential commodities, particularly food and
medicines, is welcome news indeed. Humanitarian motives aside,
there is the no-less-serious reality to be considered that
prolonged suffering among the Indonesian population could trigger
widespread social instability that, in turn, could seriously
destabilize the government and its efforts to come to grips with
the crisis.

Demonstrations to demand lower food prices are already the
order of the day in many places. Riots and looting have broken
out in dozens of towns and cities across the country. Protests
over the government's handling of the situation are rife in a
growing number of universities and colleges. Without help, one
dreads to think of the consequences that the predicted food
shortages this year due to the El Nino freak weather phenomenon
might bring.

A word of appreciation must be addressed at this point to
those who have, of their own volition, made valuable donations to
relieve the suffering of the poorest among us. Reports over the
weekend said billions of rupiah in cash donations have been
collected so far from top-ranking government officials and
private entrepreneurs, not to mention the donations in kind that
have been made by groups and individuals to help their fellow
citizens in need.

But while such donations are appreciated, it hardly needs
mentioning that charity does not actually address the core of the
problem at hand, which is the economic slump which the nation is
at present in. Charity may also lead to dependency. Worse, it
could be a mere public relations ploy for image promotion. While
it has a legitimate place in our efforts to relieve the suffering
of those most affected by the current crisis, charity basically
serves only the short-term exigencies of those who need it. In
the final analysis only an overall solution to our present
problems will be effective in allaying the threat of further
social disturbances.