Nurfika Osman & Made Arya Kencana – Despite the government's claim to have succeeded in reducing poverty and social deprivation, experts on Tuesday warned that more effective social programs and better assessments of poverty were needed.
"The government should be able to create more effective programs to curb poverty in the country as we have not seen significant results. Poverty remains the biggest problem for the people, which limits them in many aspects," Endang Turmudi, a sociologist from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), told the Jakarta Globe.
However, Endang said he welcomed the government's move to temporarily stop the cash-handout program (BLT) for the poor this year.
"They need to create programs that can empower people instead of giving them cash," Endang said. "They key is that they have to be more serious in tackling the poverty level in the country."
On Friday, Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Agung Laksono said the government would temporarily stop the BLT this year because the economy has been improving. "For the time being, the program will not be budgeted," Agung said.
Sujana Royat, the deputy welfare minister, explained that there was now no urgent need for the BLT.
"The BLT program will be effected only when there is a dire economic situation such as a significant hike in the price of fuel or the nine basic necessities. We think we do not need to do this now as everything is relatively under control," Sujana said.
The BLT program came under fire last year when the government disbursed Rp 3.7 trillion ($363 million) to 19 million families as part of the last phase of payments shortly before the campaign season for the legislative elections began in March. The timing was criticized for coinciding with the government's election campaign.
Sujana said the National Program for Community Empowerment (PNPM), the People's Business Loans (KUR) and the rice-rations program, known as raskin, remain in place.
"Through the programs relating to people's welfare we have so far have been able to control everything. We think we have had enough good programs," he said, adding that each family received Rp 300,000 ($32.7) under the BLT.
Widjajanti Santoso, a sociologist from University of Indonesia, said the government's decision to halt the BLT program had been expected because the financial crisis had ended. However, Widjajanti said the government needed to clearly define poverty if it is to back up claims that it had succeeded in reducing the poverty level.
On Friday, Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri said in Bali that there were 32.5 million poor people in the country, around 14 percent of the population.
Data released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed the poverty rate at 14.15 percent of the total population in March 2009, or 32.53 million people. This was down from 15.42 percent in March 2008, equivalent to 34.96 million people. "We are expecting the number of the poor to decrease by 1 percent every year," Salim said.