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http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/we-must-not-forget-indonesias-poor/460579
We Must Not Forget Indonesia's Poor
Oei Eng Goan | August 22, 2011
A man bathing his child not far from where he lives under the Pluit bridge in Jakarta. (JG Photo/Safir Makki) After 66 years of independence, Indonesia is still grappling with the basic problems that confront any newly-born country: poverty and social injustice. Blessed with abundant natural resources, the world's largest archipelagic country bridges two continents but still has its hands full coping with the basics.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in his annual official national address at the House of Representatives last week on the eve of Independence Day, said that the government's policy of "national economic transformation" on the basis of pro-job and pro-poor principles had succeeded in reducing unemployment by 6.8 percent to 8.1 million, but 30 million people remain in poverty according to government figures, out of a total population of 235 million.
The president's speech provoked instant reactions from his political opponents and nominal allies alike.
Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said on Wednesday that although the Yudhoyono administration has made strides in the country's development, it has failed to bring social justice to the poor due to a chaotic law enforcement system.
"Social justice is an inclusive part of our independence," she remarked at a party event on August 17.
Separately, in a similarly festive atmosphere, Aburizal Bakrie, chairman of the Golkar Party, a member of the ruling coalition, addressed party dignitaries with a similar critique.
"The nation's independence is felt and enjoyed only by those in power," he said, "but not by the marginalized in society."
Admitting that Indonesia's development has progressed a great deal, he pointed out, however, that the fruits of development are not being fully enjoyed by the majority of rural-dwelling people.
"At present, there is still a widening gap between the quality of life in urban and rural areas, between the rich and the poor. Thirty million people are a lot. If the issue is not resolved, it may trigger social conflicts," Aburizal warned.
The figure of 30 million poor people used by the government is based on data released by the Central Statistics Bureau (BPS). In 2007, the bureau announced that the number of marginalized people stood at 37.17 million, whereas the World Bank, using its own survey, predicted a much higher figure of nearly 110 million. The huge difference, some experts argued, was because the two institutions used different methodologies. The statistics bureau measures poverty based on basic needs, whereas the World Bank assesses purchasing power.
Regardless of the relative merits of the two methodologies, it is an undeniable fact that poverty is prevalent. In rural areas across the nation there are still millions of people who barely earn Rp 15,000 ($2) a day to support their families, many of whom have no access to clean drinking water, much less health care and proper basic education for their children. The imbalance of income between urban and rural workers and poor infrastructure to support rural economic development are the main causes of poverty.
Even in big cities, including Jakarta, we can see shanty towns standing just a few hundred meters away from high-rise apartment blocks and glamorous shopping malls, a sign of the huge gap between the rich and the poor. Most of the shanties are inhabited by fishermen, unskilled laborers, scavengers and unemployed villagers who migrate to the city seeking work.
The majority of the poor, still strongly adhering to their religious beliefs, try working harder to make ends meet as they wait for the implementation of a government policy that can truly lift their standard of living. Some of them, unable to bear the burden, turn to less legal methods, as is shown by the rising crime rates. Still others, suffering from economic hardship, commit suicide. In the capital city alone, according to data from the Jakarta Police, there had been 58 suicide cases in 2011 by mid-August; 55 ended their lives by hanging, most because of poverty. It is not known how many more have died in this way nationwide. But according World Health Organization data released in 2005, around 50,000 people in Indonesia commit suicide annually.
Besides economic hardship, the poor are often deprived of their legal rights. The case of a woman arrested and later tried for stealing cassava roots to feed her hungry children is still fresh in our memory. Then there were media reports about an old villager who was detained by police just because she had taken three fallen cacao beans from someone else's garden. She was accused of stealing.
It is heartening to learn that the government has adopted a pro-poor policy – but we caution that it has to be immediately and realistically implemented because, as the great philosopher Aristotle once put it: "Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime".
Oei Eng Goan is a freelance journalist
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