Zero Population Growth in RI targeted for the year 2080

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Indonesia could reach Zero Population Growth (ZPG) in the year 2080 if the country succeeds in reducing the fertility rate to 2.1 persons in 2020, an expert said on Monday.

United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA) official Nessim Tumkaya -- one of the speakers at the family planning conference which opened on Monday -- expressed guarded optimism that Indonesia could meet the target, saying that the country had managed to control its birth rate.

Indonesia's population accounts for 205 million people with a population growth rate of 1.6 percent, meaning the country adds 3.28 million people per year.

Indonesia is one of the four centers of excellence in the family planning program in the world. The UNFPA initiated many programs for other countries to learn from Indonesia's experience. One such program was the international training program launched 12 years ago.

The one-week conference is to evaluate the outcome of the program. There are 25 participants from 12 Asian countries and 45 participants from donor foundations.

UNFPA is the Indonesian family planning program's biggest donor. Since the 1970s, UNFPA has granted more than US$100 million to the program, and during the economic crisis the association topped up the funds with an additional $20 million to support continuation of the program.

However, Nessim urged the government to strengthen the program, saying Indonesia was still one of the countries in the world with a high maternal mortality rate, with between 350 and 400 deaths.

In his opening address to the conference, Minister of Transmigration and Population Al Hilal Hamdi called on non- governmental organizations and donor countries to support Indonesia to reach zero population growth.

"The government cannot achieve the effort on its effort," he said.

Al Hilal also said the family planning program in the country should treat women as subjects -- not objects -- of the program.

The conference committee earlier announced that 90 percent of family planning program participants are women.

Al Hilal said Indonesia should endorse a principle that all couples and individuals be allowed to make a voluntary reproductive choice, adding that the ability to carry out these choices was a basic right.

The minister said the program should broaden its scope with efforts to prevent Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV), which leads to the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). (zen/04)