Indonesia Observer - Dec 14, 1999
Two-thirds of population below poverty line in 2000: Report
JAKARTA (IO) - After enjoying decades of growth and relative prosperity, it is estimated that nearly two-thirds of Indonesia's total population of 210 million will be living below the poverty line at the beginning of the new millennium.
The World Bank has described the reversal in Indonesia's fortunes as "the most dramatic economic collapse anywhere in 50 years".
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in Jakarta yesterday issued a report called the State of the World's Children 2000, which revealed that Indonesia is suffering the greatest setbacks of any country in East Asia. Indonesia saw its gross domestic product fall 12.2% in the first half of 1998, creating millions more poor people.
"The 20 million newly poor Indonesians - those earning US$1 per day or less - could populate a medium-sized country," said the report.
Unicef said the human cost of the economic debacle has been high, particularly for the nation's poorest women and children. Many families, reeling from business failures and the loss of one million jobs nationwide, have cut back from three meals per day to just one.
"More than 2 million Indonesian children below the age of five are already malnourished. Some people, in utter desperation, are giving up their children, creating a large population of "economic orphans," the report said.
The government estimates that 100 million people - nearly half of the nation's population - cannot afford adequate food.
Unicef Indonesia and Malaysia representative Stephen J. Woodhouse said Indonesia faces the threat of a lost generation, characterized by a large number of unhealthy, malnourished and uneducated children, including those who work on the streets and in dangerous places.
"Indonesia's new government should have the courage to take swift action in order to cope with the serious problem, by increasing its budget allocation for two important sectors - namely health and education," Woodhouse said after he presented the report to Health Minister Ahmad Sujudi, who was representing Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Basri Hasanuddin.
Woodhouse said the government has allocated only 8.5% of the state budget to education and 4% to the health sector. "It is far below the state budget allocated to the same sectors by Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines, namely between 21% and 26% of their total budget," he added.
Minister Sujudi claimed the new government is paying serious attention to the problem and has set up several strategies to accelerate poverty eradication. "The government will optimize the use of Social Safety Net funds for education and health sectors and to improve the people's economy," he said. The government has allocated Rp430.9 billion to boost the Integrated Poverty Alleviation Movement which aims to lift millions of impoverished Indonesians above the poverty line.