Jakarta – Religious leaders and NGOs are urging the government to pick up the pace in its effort to end poverty in Indonesia.
Trihadi Saptoadi, the national director of World Vision Indonesia, said that it was the duty of the government to give its citizens the basic rights of financial sustainability, education and health.
"This is mandated by the Constitution; the government must see eradication of poverty as an obligation," he said on the sidelines of an interfaith discussion on poverty eradication Friday.
The discussion was held to recognize the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which falls on Oct. 17.
Titik Hartini, from the Association for Community Empowerment, a consortium of the country's 27 biggest civil society organizations, said that at the current pace, the government was likely to fail to eradicate poverty by 2015, as required by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
She added the poverty rate in the country "fluctuates depending on the policies that are in effect at the time of the survey".
"For example, when the government distributed cash assistance, the poverty rate decreased, but when the policy was revoked, the rate went up again," she said.
Trihadi said such cash handouts should not be regarded as a means to end poverty. "Handouts only serve as a safety net, they have a short-term effect but don't do you any good in the long run," he added.
In the last three years, Titik said, the government had increased the budget allocated to poverty eradication. "But we have not seen any significant result, the poverty rate only went down by around 1 percent in 2008 to 15.46 percent," she said.
The number is based on the international dollar-per-day standard. If the reference line is set at US$2 per day, the estimated number of people living under the poverty line in the country reaches more than 116 million people, or 49 percent.
In 2006, the government allocated Rp 41 trillion ($4.3 billion) toward poverty eradication. The amount went up in 2007 to Rp 51 trillion, Rp 58 trillion in 2008 and Rp 66.2 trillion this year.
"This means the government's programs to eradicate poverty have either missed their targets or have been ineffective," Titik said.
Trihadi said the government was likely to fail to achieve several other targets outlined in the MDGs, namely the goals to reduce child mortality, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and to ensure environmental sustainability.
"If we see the trend of year-to-year achievements, there is little chance the government will be able to meet these targets," he said. "We are only six years away from the deadline."
He also said civil society played an important role in the effort to end poverty in the country. "With the discussion today, we want to show that although we are of different religions, we can all work together for the same goal," Trihadi said.
A mass campaign to end poverty is slated for Sunday at the National Monument in Jakarta. Around 75,000 people from all over Indonesia are expected to attend the event. (adh)