Tycoons pledge to help reduce poverty
Tycoons pledge to help reduce poverty
JAKARTA (JP): Conglomerate owners, represented by Liem Sioe
Liong, Bambang Trihatmodjo and Sudwikatmono, signed an agreement
with the government yesterday to help reduce poverty under the
Prosperous Family Savings Program.
The government was represented by State Minister of Population
Haryono Suyono at yesterday's signing, which took place at the
Bina Graha presidential office in the presence of President
Soeharto.
The signing ceremony was also attended by Chairman of the
Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Aburizal Bakrie and
businessmen Eka Tjipta Widjaja, William Soeryajaya and Sofjan
Wanandi.
Yesterday's agreement was a follow-up to a meeting of almost
100 business tycoons in Bali in August, which issued the "Bali
Declaration" with a commitment to help the poor and small
businesses.
Under yesterday's agreement, the business tycoons agreed to
support the government's poverty alleviation program by assisting
families which live below the poverty line, particularly those
living outside the impoverished villages which have been
identified by the government.
Currently, 22,000 out of Indonesia's 65,000 villages are still
regarded as least-developed or "impoverished," making them
eligible for an annual development subsidy of Rp 20 million
(US$8,900) each.
The poverty line is drawn on the basis of a minimum daily
calorie intake of 2,100 and a certain quantity of non-food
consumer goods and services.
Based on prices in 1993, the poverty line for urban areas is
set at a monthly expenditure of Rp 27,905 and Rp 18,244 for rural
areas.
Soeharto said that currently about 26 million people, or 13.7
percent of the total population, still live in poverty.
Of the 26 million poor, he said, 13.8 million live in least-
developed or impoverished villages and the remaining 12.2 million
live outside those villages.
Under the Prosperous Family Savings Program, the businessmen
pledged to match every deposit of Rp 2,000 with Rp 20,000 of
funds for each of the 2.5 million families which are to be
covered by the program.
The program will allow a family to save money in state-owned
Bank Tabungan Negara or in local post offices. In return, they
will be able to withdraw funds or tap the resources of the
conglomerate owners for education and technical assistance.
Soeharto acknowledged that helping the country's poor people
was not an easy task.
"But you have to do it if you don't want to be stared at
cynically," he told the businessmen.
President Soeharto also urged big businesses to share part of
the business pie with their smaller counterparts through
partnerships, saying that selfishness on the part of large-scale
entrepreneurs could easily lead to social envy.
"Partnerships (between big and small businesses) should be
voluntary and non-destructive. Big entrepreneurs shouldn't use
the philosophy of aji mumpung in doing business with small
entrepreneurs," he said, using a Javanese expression which
condemns a person who takes advantage of a position of power.
The aji mumpung philosophy, Soeharto added, was against the
country's Pancasila ideology.
"If necessary, big businesses in control of downstream
industries should hand over part of their business lines to
smaller enterprises," he said in his address, in which he did not
use a prepared text.
Soeharto told the businessmen that they would foster social
envy if they continued to expand their enterprises without
involving small businesses.
"The big ones should give room to the smaller ones to develop
and grow," he said.
Soeharto said that even in the 18-member Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum, the developed countries were willing to
help their developing counterparts.
"If the APEC forum can do it, surely our country, which is
based on Pancasila, can do it even better," he said. (pwn)