Jakarta – The number of impoverished people in the country may increase should the government pass into law a bill on poverty alleviation that will redefine who is categorized as poor, a councilor says.
Regional Representatives Council deputy chair Laode Ida said Wednesday that the Central Statistics Agency's (BPS) remarkable poverty figure, with 31.02 million out of 237.6 million Indonesians living in poverty, should not be seen as the result of government success in reducing poverty.
The way the agency calculated the numbers did not incorporate all elements of poverty throughout the nation, he said.
According to the BPS, 13.33 percent of the population was poor. The agency uses average expenditures per capita per month to measure poverty levels. Under that measure, a person with an average expenditure of Rp 211,726 (US$24.14) per month or Rp 7,000 a day is categorized as "poor".
The BPS stipulates that poverty is a condition where people are unable to meet their basic needs. Laode said the government's bill will apply a broader concept of basic needs than what has been used by the BPS.
The bill, initiated by the House of Representatives, says basic needs consist of food, clothing, home, health, education, job opportunities and social security, as well as social services.
"If we refer to the concept of basic needs [in the bill], the measure used by the agency will not be sufficient. The number of Indonesian poor will be much higher than the agency's number."
Although there are a large number of people living in poverty in the country, the government has not seriously taken care of the poor as mandated by the country's constitution, he said.
"The government should take better care of the poor through sustainable social empowerment programs instead of using the cash aid approach," he said, adding that empowered poor people could then obtain economic independence and find appropriate livelihoods.
National Development Planning Agency deputy director Lukita Dinarsyah Tuwo said cash aid programs would still be needed by the poor to prepare them to emerge out of their economic difficulties.
"Providing poor people with various economic empowerment initiatives, such as providing adequate capital to help them start a business or better access to microfinance, can improve their lives and livelihoods. Then they won't rely on social charity provided by the government anymore," he said.
But, Lukita said the government should first prepare the poor who were having difficulties meeting their basic needs, especially with food, before helping them to develop their potential.
For 2011, the government has allocated Rp 69 trillion for poverty alleviation, up from the Rp 63 trillion in 2010.
According to the Social Services Ministry, the budgetary allocations for poverty alleviation are distributed among 19 ministries and other government institutions, hindering the implementation of poverty reduction initiatives.
Social Services Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri said the draft law on the management of the poor would hopefully simplify procedures in distributing assistance and for empowerment programs.
"I think such assistance and programs can be handled by five or 10 ministries and other government institutions instead of 19. It can be more efficient," he said.
According to the ministry, three clusters of social welfare programs specially designed to alleviate poverty will hopefully contribute to improving the poverty rate by 2014. Those three clusters are: rice for poor households, public health insurance and the Hope Family Program; Indonesia's National Program for Community Empowerment; and people's microcredits.
Salim said the draft law should have a more precise definition of those living in poverty since it would determine who was eligible for social assistance. "The law should have a comprehensive idea of poverty and poor people," he said. (ebf)