UN report urges more funds for democracy
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta
Indonesia will need to spend about Rp 108 trillion (US$12.13 billion) on human development if it wants to perpetuate its fledgling democracy, a United Nations (UN) report says.
In its recently released 2004 Human Development Report (HDR) on Indonesia, the UN said long-term survival of democracy would hinge on the government's willingness to invest more in human development, not only to fulfill its people's basic rights, but also to lay foundations for economic growth.
The report, which was made available to The Jakarta Post, said attention to human development was a necessary step in the transition from authoritarianism to democracy, and it could also help heal acute social divisions that arose following the fall of the New Order regime in 1998.
"Indonesia can afford to establish a new contract based on key civil and economic rights -- basic education, basic health, food and physical security," the report suggested.
The HDR, jointly published by the Central Statistics Agency, the National Development Planning Board and the United Nations Development Program, also pointed out in which areas the government should invest more.
According to a World Bank estimate, the country should invest Rp 13.6 trillion ($1.5 billion) annually to guarantee people's basic right to health care: A basic health package for all would cost Rp 10.7 trillion, with another Rp 2.9 trillion needed for poverty health grants.
"The current expenditure on primary health care is Rp 8.4 trillion, therefore the required increase is Rp 5.2 trillion," the report said.
To fulfill the right to basic education, the government would need to increase investment from Rp 33 trillion to Rp 58 trillion -- based upon an annual ideal expenditure per pupil at the primary level of Rp 1.17 million and Rp 2.28 million for the secondary level.
"This may seem a dramatic rise, but in fact, the state Constitution already commits the country to spending more than this."
The HDR said in order to guarantee food security for all who fall below the poverty line -- 18 percent of the population, or 38 million people -- the government must spend Rp 8.4 trillion.
"However, the cost will be much smaller if the health and education investments have been made," it said.
Meanwhile, Rp 28.4 trillion was needed to increase police salaries and number, which would in turn provide citizens with more physical security.
The HDR concluded that for all basic services, public expenditure would only increase from 3 percent of the country's gross domestic product to six percent.
"This figure is much smaller than the amount the government has spent in bailing out troubled private banks through the Bank of Indonesia Liquidity Fund (BLBI)," chief advisor of the United Nations Support Facility for Indonesian Recovery Satish Mishra said at a recent discussion.
The government spent a whopping Rp 144 trillion in BLBI during the late-1990s financial crisis on dozens of ailing banks.
Poor investment in basic services has been blamed for the country's low human development index (HDI) compared to some neighboring countries.
Indonesia's HDI of 0.692 placed the country 111th of 177 countries surveyed in 2002, below Thailand, the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.