Undernourished children

Undernourished children

A number of babies and children reported to be critically
undernourished are being admitted to public heath centers every
day. A leading newspaper has warned if such a trend continues the
future of the younger generation may be in danger.

The seriousness of the matter is that these famine-stricken
areas are close to the capital city of Jakarta, in many cases
just 50 kilometers away from where the country's richest people
live.

It is surprising that government officials and the nation's
leaders are not alarmed any more by these reports. Economic
growth may be slow but the rich should not be allowed to get
richer while the poor get poorer.

Concerned citizens are questioning whether the nation's
leaders are thinking more of the general elections to be held in
two years time rather than why the promise of a prosperous
society is drifting further away?

The fact that in Bogor, 317 children under the age of three,
were found undernourished, should not be underestimated.
According to Kompas, Anisah, a 14-month-old child, was found
without any sign of life in her mother's lap.

From the south of another city, Cianjur, where you pass on
your way from the tourist resort of Puncak, to Bandung, thousands
of people have been complaining for the past several months that
they do not have enough to eat. Most are unemployed, and
migration to bigger cities has now become impossible due to the
frequent raids on hawkers by the police. The Regional Autonomy
Law was meant to give the regions a greater chance to boost their
economy and provide a better livelihood to the local population.

National development planners should be ashamed that
after about sixty years of self-rule the number of
undernourished children in many provinces is increasing.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta