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Согласен, очень хорошее сообщение…

I coincidently found this blog when I searched some information on the net for my position paper on the ‘Gender Dimension of Indonesian Poverty’ that I am currently writing on. The idea of having a war against poverty is great! To me it has much deeper insight than the war for humanity launched by the US when they attacked Iraq. It also echoes the (hopefuly genuine) political will of the Department of Defence to, not only reform but also, make major radical changes within them. Holding the belief that critiques are beautiful, I am offering my personal critical comments for this writing as follows.

First, the idea of perceiving the war against poverty as the war against terrorrism, as suggested in the notion:”Be tough against terrorism, but be tougher still against the sources of terrorism”, is too risky. Embedded in this notion is the main premise of ‘poverty breeds terrorism.’ This premise certainly requires a careful re-visit. It may be worth to find out how many of those committed terrorism were actually coming from poor family. Yes indeed it is true that poverty may produce crime, but terrorism does not necessarily a crime. Terrorism contains certain ideology that cannot be simply encountered by an anti poverty program. Someone’s terrorist can be somebody else’s heroe. The Dutch colonial government used to call us ‘extremist’ and my father used to be one of those extremists with him joining the guerilla fighters as child soldier, but to me my father is my hero!. No one can remove that from me as the idea is firmly planted in my heart and mind. By and large, I would like to say that attacking an ideology requires another ideology, a counter ideology, and not an anti-poverty program.

Second, Indonesian poverty has three important feature. The first feature is multidimensionality, i.e. the interlinked between spatial economy (rural/urban, center/periphery), sectoral (industrial/agriculture/service), and geographic area (western Indonesia/java/eastern Indonesia). The second feature is Vulnerability, especially relating to fragile economy and social structure that hardly can cope with shocks (that can be economical, political, social, and natural). The fact that Indonesia’s food security depends on import makes Indonesia vulnerable to the global increase of food price. The other fact that Indonesia is located at the ‘ring of fire’ results in the country’s vulnerability towards disaster. Adding to this is the vulnerability of social unrests. The third feature is gender inequality. Statistics reveal that women’s literacy rate is still less than men’s literacy rate. This may as well become one of several other explaining factors for the lower women’s labour participation, especially at reproductive age, compare to their male counterparts’.

Third, Several studies, with using tatistical data, show that the Indonesia’s success story in reducing number of poverty in 1976-1996 is due to three reasons: Economic growth that favours the poor, stability that allows economy to grow, and equity that eliminates gaps (some scholars, however, still debate on whether or not equity was reached along with growth and stability). It may be worth to learn from the history. As now Indonesia adopts the pro-poor growth, the remaining homework would be how to ensure stability (without neglecting the values of democracy) and equity to happen alongside the growth. The Ministry of Defence, to my understanding, plays a vital role in ensuring a ’stability with a human face’. A national stability that does not negate the right to be heard of the people.

Fourth, looking at my personal story of coming from a poor family but managed to escaped from the poverty trap because of education, I would strongly supports the idea of paying a particular and seriouse attention on education sector. Education is a fundamental rights for every citizens. The State has the main mandate to ensure that everybody, no matter what, to have a proper education. There should be no administrative requirement that hampers children to go to school. Some street children I met, for example, could not go to school because they do not have their birth certificate. This should not be happened if we understand that it is their RIGHT to go to school. Not having a birth certificate should not hinders them to obtain education. We may also need to reconsider to strengthen the existing scholarship scheme and building a better scheme if, for some reasons, we prefer not to use the old and existing scheme. Education will open the door for moving out of poverty. Neglecting education sector, will only make poverty breeds poverty.

Fifth, I am personally tired of politicians who sell nothing but themselves, who fight for noone but themselves. I bet the resources that is allocated for these politicians can be used to send hundreds of children to school or to feed thousands of the poor with a day meal. Perhaps, it is about the time to take some measurements for letting only those who are not only well qualified but fully committed to the poor.

Lastly, as someone who was born and grew up in this country, I would like to thank you for putting the effort. It is very much appreciated. It would be more meaningful, however, if we can do it appropriately, starting from its conceptual framework to its practical dimension.

With best regards.
Yulia

Thanks

regards,

Andy Achmad Sampurna Jaya

“The puzzling thing is that GDP is not a good indicator of the health of a country’s economy due to the “manipulatable” parameters used. And more interestingly, a high GDP is not a good indicator of a more “makmur” society.”

Saya pikir sangat benar karena ada kondisi “sangat kaya” dan “sangat miskin” jadi nilai average keduanya ngga bisa dijadikan tolak ukur.

ada berpenghasilan jutaan perhari dilain pihak ada yang berpenghasilan sampai 5000-an perhari.

And many more, but these are the points that are in my mind right now.

I hope that with very well educated ministers like you, our country will rise up and become once again the tiger of asia, and one day perhaps, the world.

Pak Juwono Sudarsono, Indonesia adalah secuplik tanah surga yang ada di Dunia. Coba Bapak baca buku Atlantis, Lost Continent Finnaly Found, karya Prof. Arysio Nunes dos Santos.
Indonesia, the site of eden
http://www.atlan.org/articles/true_history/

Indonesia negara yang kaya akan aneka ragam hayati dan kandungan mineral bumi, didukung 2 musim oleh angin muson. Kecepatan udara maksimal 7 mil dan tidak ada jalur angin siklon besar. Daerah yang tentram sedikit bencana dan diberkahi qJJ 1.

Sebatas pengetahuan saya, kemiskinan terjadi karena ketimpangan ekonomi. Gaji tertinggi dan terendah sangat jomplang. Gaji 100.000.000 perbulan dan Gaji 100.000 perbulan ada di Jakarta. Pengemudi Jaguar dengan megah berjalan di Pasar Senen sementara di bis sekitar senen ada yang minta sedekah untuk makan siang karena dari pagi belum makan.
Perbandingan 1:1000 gaji, sementara di Amerika perbedaan gaji hanya 2,5 kali.
http://www.overseasthinktankforindonesia.com/?p=30

Ironi ini berlanjut dengan terpusatnya ekonomi dan bisnis di Jakarta. Harga tanah di Jakarta sedemikian mahal menyebabkan urban komuter yang menyebabkan terbentuk efek rumah kaca polusi CO2 pada 700 meter dpl Jakarta. Alhamdulilah lapisan ini kini hilang 170108, sesudah liburan natal, tahun baru Masehi, dan tahun baru Hijriah. Semoga langit Jakarta terus terpelihara.

qJJ 1 menurunkan hujan dengan ukuran.
Sebagai makhluk kita berikhtiar menabung air di permukaan bumi dan membendung air untuk cadangan di musim kemarau.
Peta kemiskinan di kota terletak di bantaran sungai, karena air dapat gratis di peroleh, tidak memperdulikan hieginies dan kesehatan. Bila sungai-sungai di kota besar bisa seperti Sungai Rhein yang menjadi berkah di Eropa sebagai sumber PAM, tampaknya kesejahteraan lebih mudah tercapai.

Waallahu Alam B.
Wass.Wr.Wb.

A U G I