Poverty in Indonesia
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Since 2002, a team of analysts Indonesia and foreign countries, under the auspices of Indonesia Poverty Analysis Program (INDOPOV) at the World Bank Office Jakarta, has been studying the characteristics of poverty in Indonesia. They have sought to identify what works and what does not in the effort poverty reduction, and to clarify what choices are available to Government and non-government agencies in their efforts to improve the standard and quality of life for the poor.
The paper tries to analyze the multi-dimensional nature of poverty in Indonesia at this time through a new view based on the changes that have occurred in the country over the last decade. Prior to this, the World Bank has compiled-Poverty Assessment Study, which in 1993 and 2001, but these studies did not address the issue of poverty in depth.
This study presents a wealth of knowledge held by the World Bank and the Government of Indonesia and the authors hope that this study will contribute to the existing warm and policy discussions, it will eventually bring about a change in policy and implementation of poverty alleviation efforts.
Indonesia today is of course very different from Indonesia a decade ago. So not surprisingly, poverty reduction strategies have changed along with the changes that have been experienced by Indonesia therefore made paper entitled "Poverty Reduction" and the authors are very hopeful that this poverty assessment can be of help in addressing these challenges.
1.2 Problem Formulation
In this paper the author will discuss:
What definition of poverty?
How to measure poverty?
What are the causes of poverty?
What is the state of poverty in Indonesia?
What should be prioritized in poverty reduction?
1.3 Objectives Discussion
The purpose of this paper is:
1. Knowing the definition of poverty
2. Knowing how to measure poverty
3. Knowing the causes of poverty
4. Knowing the state of poverty in Indonesia
5. Knowing what should be prioritized in poverty reduction.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
2.1 Definition of Poverty
Poverty is a condition in which there is a shortage of things common to possess such as food, clothing, shelter and drinking water, these things are closely related to the quality of life. Poverty often means lack of access to education and work to overcome poverty and gain a decent honor as citizens. Poverty is a global problem. Most people understand this term is subjective and comparative, while others see it in terms of moral and evaluative, and others understand it from a scientific point established. The term "developing country" is usually used to refer to countries that are "poor".
Poverty is understood in different ways. Understanding mainly include:
• Description of material deficiencies, which usually includes the daily food needs, clothing, housing, and health services. Poverty in this sense is understood as a situation of scarcity of goods and basic services.
• The description of social needs, including social isolation, dependency, and inability to participate in society. This includes education and information. Social isolation is usually distinguished from poverty, because it includes issues of political and moral issues, and not be limited to the economic field.
• The description of the lack of adequate income and wealth. The meaning of "adequate" here vary widely across the parts of the political and economic development around the world.
Meanwhile, Head of the Central Bureau of Statistics, Rusman Heriawan said a person is considered poor if he is not able to meet the minimum needs of life. Subsistence minimum is the need to consume food in a dose of 2100 kilo calories per person per day and a minimum of non-food needs such as housing, education, health and transport. "So there is a need of food in the caloric and non-food needs in the rupiah. Rupiah if the latter is Rp 182,636 per person per month," said Rusman Heriawan told the BBC. By definition, the number of poor people in Indonesia in 2008 reached approximately 35 million inhabitants.
The figure was the result of the national socio-economic survey, with a sample of only 68,000 Susenas households, whereas the number of households in Indonesia reached 55 million. According to the statistics from the Surabaya Institute of Technology, Kresnayana Yahya, the government perspective on poverty does not reflect reality.
"There are not counted, vandal-vandal calories. Guy can smoke six to seven bars. Was actually negative. Spending so he could say, but inside there are six or seven cigarettes," said Yahya Kresnayana.
2.2 Measuring Poverty
Poverty can be grouped into two categories: absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent, unaffected by time and place / state. An example of an absolute measurement is the percentage of the population below the number who ate quite sustain the needs of the human body (approximately 2000-2500 calories per day for adult men).
The World Bank defines absolute poverty as living on incomes below USD $ 1/day and Poverty medium for income under $ 2 per day, with these restrictions in 2001 the estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide consume less than $ 1/day and 2.7 billion people in the world consume less than $ 2/day. "Proportion of people in developing countries living in extreme poverty has fallen from 28% in 1990 to 21% in the period 1981-2001 2001.Melihat, the percentage of the world population living below the poverty line of $ 1 dollar / day has been reduced by half. however, the value of $ 1 also decreased during this time.
Although the most severe poverty in the world are developing States, there is evidence of the presence of poverty in each region. In developed countries, this condition presents the homeless who wandered to and fro, and the suburbs and the ghetto poor. Poverty can be seen as the collective condition of poor people, or groups of poor people, and in this sense the whole country is sometimes considered to be poor. To avoid this stigma, these countries are usually referred to as developing countries.
2.3 Causes of Poverty
Poverty has been linked to:
• Individual causes, or pathological, who see poverty as a result of the behavior, choices, or the ability of the poor;
• Causes families, linking poverty with family education;
• Causes of sub-cultures ("subcultural"), linking poverty with daily life, learned or shared within a community;
• Causes of agencies, who see poverty as a result of the actions of others, including war, government, and economics;
• Structural causes, which argue that poverty is the result of the social structure.
Although it is widely accepted that poverty and unemployment are the result of laziness, but in the United States (the richest country per capita in the world) for example, has millions of people termed the working poor, ie, those who are not wealthy or public assistance plans, but still failed to pass above the poverty line.
2.4 Poverty in Indonesia
Poverty reduction remains one of the most pressing issues in Indonesia. Indonesia's population living on less than U.S. $ 2-a-day is almost equal to the total number of people living on less than U.S. $ 2 - per day of all the countries in East Asia except China. The government's commitment to eradicate poverty contained in the Medium Term Development Plan (Plan) 2005-2009 is based on national poverty reduction strategy (PRSP). In addition to co-signed the Millennium Development Goals (or the Millennium Development Goals) for 2015, in RPJM his government was working on the main objectives of poverty reduction for 2009, including the ambitious target of reducing the poverty rate from 18.2 percent in 2002 to 8.2 percent in 2009. While national poverty rates close to pre-crisis levels, this still means that about 40 million people currently live below the poverty line. Anyway, even though Indonesia is now a middle-income countries, the proportion of people living on less than U.S. $ 2-per day equal to the low-income countries in the region, such as Vietnam.
There are three prominent features of poverty in Indonesia. First, many households are around the national poverty line, which is equivalent to U.S. $ 1.55-PPP per day, so a lot of people who, though not classified as poor but are vulnerable to poverty. Second, the measure of poverty based on income, so
does not describe the real poverty threshold. Many people probably do not belong (income poor) can be categorized as poor on the basis of lack of access to basic services and poor human development indicators. Third, given the very breadth and diversity of Indonesia, the difference
between regions is a fundamental characteristic of poverty in Indonesia.
Many of Indonesia's population vulnerable to poverty. The national poverty rate
a large number of residents who live just above the national poverty line. Nearly 42 percent of all people
2. Poverty in terms of non-income is a more serious problem than that of poverty in terms of income. Specialized areas that warrant concern are:
• Figures malnutrition (malnutrition) is high and even increased in recent years: a quarter of children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition in Indonesia, with malnutrition rates remained the same in recent years despite reductions in poverty.
• Maternal health is much worse than the countries in the same region, Indonesia's maternal mortality rate is 307 (100,000 births), three times more than Vietnam and six times greater than China and Malaysia is only about 72 percent deliveries assisted by skilled birth attendants.
• Lack of educational outcomes. The transition rate from primary to secondary school is still low, especially among the poor: among the age group 16-18 years in the poorest quintile, only 55 percent graduated from high school, while the figure for the richest quintile is 89 percent for the same cohort.
• Lack of access to clean water, particularly among the poor. For the lowest quintile, only 48 percent have access to clean water in rural areas, while in urban areas, 78 percent.
• Access to sanitation is a crucial problem. Eighty percent of poor people in rural and 59 percent urban poor do not have access to septic tanks, while less than one percent of the total Indonesian population served by piped sewerage.
3. Large regional disparities in poverty. Regional disparities are the hallmark of Indonesia, which is reflected by the differences between rural and urban areas. In the countryside, there are about 57 percent of poor people in Indonesia who also often do not have access to basic infrastructure services is only about 50 percent of the rural poor have access to water sources
net, compared with 80 percent for the urban poor. Importantly, however, by crossing the vast Indonesian archipelago, it is also reflected in the pockets of poverty in the region itself.
2.5 Prioritias For Poverty Alleviation
Effective poverty reduction strategy for Indonesia consists of three components:
Making Growth Work for the Poor
Making Social Services Work for the Poor.
Making Public Expenditure for the Poor
In conclusion, Indonesia's poverty problem continues to exist and is unique, combined with government priorities and resources to address them, Indonesia is now in a position to make significant headway in reducing poverty. The question is: where does all begin? Various actions
needed in several areas to address the four critical in alleviating poverty in Indonesia, namely:
reducing poverty through growth in terms of revenue
strengthen human resource capacity
reduce vulnerability and risk levels among poor households, and
strengthening the institutional framework to do so and make public policy more pro-poor.
Given the four points mentioned above, there are 16 of the following actions is a priority to be done immediately. The 16 actions are:
1) Eliminate the ban on rice imports.
2) Invest in education with a focus on improving access and affordability of high school and vocational training for the poor, while improving the quality and efficiency of primary schools.
3) Invest in health with a focus on improving the quality of primary health care (government and private) and better access to health services.
4) A special effort is needed to address maternal mortality rate is very high in Indonesia.
5) Improve the quality of water for the poor by using different strategies for rural and urban areas.
6) Handle sanitation crisis facing Indonesia and its poor.
7) Launch large-scale program to invest in the construction of rural roads.
8) Extend (up to the national level) approach to community-driven development (CDD) Indonesia's success.
9) Complete development of a comprehensive social security system that addresses the risks and vulnerabilities faced by the poor and near poor.
10) revitalization of agriculture through investments in infrastructure and rebuilding research and extension.
11) Facilitate land titling and land reuse barren and infertile for productive use.
12) Creating a more flexible labor regulations.
13) Extend the reach of financial services for the poor and increase access to micro and small businesses.
14) Improve the poverty focus in planning and budgeting at the national level for the provision of services.
15) Run the program of capacity building to enhance the capacity of local governments to plan, budget and implement poverty alleviation programs.
16) Strengthen monitoring and review of the poverty program.
CHAPTER III
CASE STUDY
3.1 Many Programs, But Poverty Remains High
When a program of direct cash subsidy (SLT) ends, many are expecting the poverty rate increased in 2007. The World Bank, for example, the reports of the World Bank East Asia Update that was launched November 2006, estimates that the poverty rate will rise next year after the end of the SLT program.
"Conditional Cash Subsidy Program that will begin next year will be too small to reduce the impact of the end of the SLT," the report said.
Assessment Team Indonesia risen more critical. Combined economic analysts on the team assessing the poverty rate would rise this year given the purchasing power of the people will keep falling. Then, because the end of the SLT, and uncontrolled rise in prices of basic necessities such as rice and cooking oil as well as flooding in some areas.
"The poverty rate will only go down to two possibilities, make changes and engineering calculation methodology. Secondly, make changes or cleaning the sample data, which is a very vulgar and manipulative, and very embarrassing both morally and intellectually," said economic analyst Imam Sugema. However, unexpectedly, the poverty rate declined from 2.13 million last year. With the change in the poverty line of Rp 151,997 per capita per month to Rp 166,697 per capita per month. The size of the number of poor people greatly influenced the poverty line because the poor are people who have an average monthly per capita expenditure below the poverty line.
Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said, rising incomes who are in the poverty line has increased compared to the rising prices of basic commodities. In addition, even though the price of rice rises, but offset by digelontorkannya rice for the poor program. SLT BPS judge while it ended but many poor people who can use the money derived from the SLT to work informally. Related poverty, World Bank analysis shows, the differences between the poor and near-poor in Indonesia are very small.
Vulnerability to falling into poverty is very high in Indonesia. The World Bank says, there are three prominent feature of poverty in Indonesia. First, many households around the poverty line is equivalent to the per capita income of U.S. $ 1.55 per day. So many people who although not classified as poor, vulnerable to poverty.
Second, the measure of poverty based on income so as to misrepresent the real poverty threshold. Many people who may not be classified as poor in terms of income, but is classified as poor on the basis of lack of access to basic services. And low human development indicators.
Third, given the very breadth and diversity of Indonesia, regional disparities is a fundamental characteristic of poverty in Indonesia.
While the funds disbursed for the program of poverty, judged to be touched directly to the problems of poverty. Poverty budget of Rp 54 trillion in 2007 and Rp 62 trillion in 2008, according to Imam Sugema, of the value of Rp 54 trillion is direct contact with poverty only Rp 5 trillion. However, despite of the poverty statistics in Indonesia fell, but in fact, the economic gap between the rich and the poor in Indonesia are still sharp.
The large number of poor people, since there is unemployment in Indonesia. Not absorb the labor force, due to the slow pace of the expansion is the business sector. BPS data showed that the number of labor force in Indonesia in February 2007 reached 108.13 million or an increase of 174 million people compared to the labor force in August 2006 which recorded 106.39 million. From the addition of the labor force, the number of Indonesian population working in February of this year reached 97.58 million people. That way, the number of unemployed in Indonesia reached 10.55 million by February 2007.
After all, if the government is still not able to move the real sector, the unemployment will still be inflated because the labor force continued to emerge and the number of people that can not be resolved as seen in the period covering March 2006 estimated population of 221.328 million to 224.177 million in 2007.
Heavy duty for the current government or the next government is to reduce poverty and unemployment. Of course we expect, the leaders of this country are no longer fragmented with various parties but rather a desire to be the one to jointly solve the problems of poverty and unemployment.
3.2 SBY-JK and Poverty in Indonesia
Opportunities Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) to win the presidential election (election) 2009 is not fully secure. SBY chances for re-election will be safe when public satisfaction with the performance is above 60%. Instead, the President will very likely be defeated if the public satisfaction with the performance of the government is under 50%.
Thus the results of a recent survey of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), which took place on September 8 to 20, 2008. The survey involved 1,239 respondents with an error tolerance of 2.8% at 95% confidence level. Difficult to deny that opportunity SBY on election 2009 is very dependent on the performance of government in the economy, especially about poverty alleviation.
Two Paradigms
There is such a broad consensus, if poverty alleviation became the leitmotif of policy development, procurement and increasing the income of the poor become the most important goal all activities. However, in that regard, there are two distinct paradigms on how to achieve them.
è First, the belief that economic growth is the most effective remedy to alleviate poverty because it will absorb a lot of labor. However, empirical reality indicates otherwise. It was not caused by the rise of capital-intensive production methods and labor saving.
è Second, the belief that the poor should be helped to earn a living. Sector of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) believed to be the major joints of the people's economy. The assumption is that when equal opportunities with available capital intensive, it is believed to be small and medium businesses to increase investment, business development, and income. Unfortunately, sebagimana first paradigm, has not been found empirical evidence to support the truth convincing assumption. Rests of the two paradigms above, it seems there is no instant recipe that can be used as a handle certain in poverty reduction policies.
Four of Reference
Nevertheless, the author believes there are several things that can be used as a reference for the SBY-JK to maximize the poverty reduction efforts in the remaining one year of his reign.
Poverty reduction through employment provision should strongly consider the level of industrial development and integration of a country on the world market. Countries like Indonesia that the growth rate of the industry has not been developed and the informal sector still dominates, it is necessary to consider an appropriate strategy. The desire to be able to compete in the global market should be balanced with efforts to support small businesses as an industrialization base.
Developing countries with vast market potential as Indonesia is very vulnerable intervention by international financial institutions (read: the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) as well as the advanced industrial countries to open their markets and eliminate subsidies. If the request is met, then no doubt will have an impact on wage levels drop which in turn leads to an increased number of potential layoffs (layoffs). That means the number of poor people in Indonesia will be more and more.
Equal opportunity should be given in the competition between small and medium enterprises as well as between capital-intensive small business itself. Providing equal opportunity is certainly to be implemented through various policies and regulations.
Mapping the problem and the potential of a country as well as specific development strategy will only be widely accepted if it is done with the involvement of all levels of socioeconomic conditions, especially the dispossessed. So, not only involving the employers or the haves only. With reference to the above four issues, in terms of poverty reduction policy, Indonesia is expected to achieve one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), namely halving the number of poor people. MDGs is a humanitarian project that was launched by the United Nations (UN) during the period of fifteen years (2000-2015). MDGs agreed by all UN member states, including Indonesia. Thus, only seven years remaining owned by Indonesia to halve the number of poor people.
3.3 When Poverty Alleviation Only Commodity Politics
Open campaign will begin in mid-2009 elections this month after several months can only be done with a limited campaign in a closed meeting, face to face meetings, print and electronic media, as well as the dissemination of campaign materials and props in a public place (Law no. 10th / 2008 on General Elections Parliament, Council and Parliament).
In this campaign, as many as 38 official party following the national elections have started offering their merchandise, and one of the best sellers is poverty. (Number) poverty would be merchandise, whether it's to polish shanties themselves, by offering programs, appointments, completion of problems of poverty. In addition, do not forget to designate or even disfigure merchandise to others, in the form of criticizing, correcting, and denounced the previous regime and the rival parties at this time, in terms of similar programs.
Genealogy Eradication of Poverty
According to Frances Fox Piven and Richard A Cloward (Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare, Vintage Books, 1993), three aspects of poverty include (1) lack of materials and scarcity of goods and basic services, which typically include daily food needs , clothing, housing, and health services, (2) failure to meet social needs, including social isolation, dependency, and inability to participate in society, including education and information, and (3) lack of adequate income and wealth. The meaning of "adequate" here is very different, depending on the political and economic context of a country
Plural poverty in developing countries, but also exist in developed countries in the form of homeless and ghetto communities (slums). In Indonesia alone, according to the Poverty Reduction Coordination Team (formed in 2005 through Presidential Decree No. 54, see www.tkpkri.org), the Government has been implementing poverty reduction programs since the 1960's through the people's basic needs strategy set out in the National Development Plan Eight Years (Penasbede). But the program stalled in the middle of the road due to the political crisis in 1965. As for the New Order era, through specific strategies Repelita do solve the problem of socio-economic inequality, the pursed a program Inpres Villages (IDT). However, this attempt failed Orba political and economic crisis in 1997.
Furthermore, the reform era spawned a social safety net programs (JPS) of Presidential Decree No. 190 of 1998. Various efforts above have not shown satisfactory results. Data UNDP said the Human Poverty Index (HPI-Human Poverty Index), which focuses on the proportion of people who are below the threshold of the same dimensions of human development with human development index-a long and healthy life, having access to education, and standard of living appropriate, conclude Value HP-1 for Indonesia, 18.5, ranks 41 of 102 countries (2005 data). This index is getting worse in the current energy and food crisis, when prices soared and made the fulfillment of basic needs (food, education, health) increasingly unaffordable
Logic Ad Campaign vs Marhaenism
As a latent condition in the pulse of the nation, poverty will remain a concern to all stakeholders, particularly related to the 2009 election campaign. Understanding the objective conditions of poverty, plus data and facts, and logic-processed with creative ads will generate "merchandise" beautifully wrapped in rhetoric and advertisements.
Just look at some figures from the campaign some time ago already passed on the electronic media. Prabowo example, mewacanakan poverty to be addressed with efforts productive and empowering young people (farmers), the "let's buy nutritious food from our farmers ...", so that "Asian tigers (Indonesia-pen) will roar back". While Wiranto, could lead to political swelter with criticism about the spiciness of the Yudhoyono regime promise not to raise fuel prices. Again its anchor point is the issue of poverty, which do not impose on people who are poor and unpopular policies that worsen the situation.
Logic ad is how to make the merchandise sold, by all means. Plural occurs, the data using ad-exaggerated and distorted the facts, deceive, deceive, and even deceive consumers. As revealed by Vilhjalmur Stefansson (Discovery, 1964), "What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public", ie, each ad will use the truth or fallacy to trick the public.
What we need to be aware of is the theme of poverty through public deception, the polish promises to captivate people's voice. In fact, we are satisfied with the experience of the difficulty of collecting promises were spoken in the campaign. Caring for the poor is only temporary, shallow, and superficial.
There is no attempt to boil the idea of poverty eradication has become something heroic but realistic, like when Sukarno met Mr. Marhaen poor farmers, who produce Marhaenism the ideologically-praxis used to encourage people to become independent.
Auditing Anti-Poverty Program and the Role of Civil Society
2009 elections will usher in the reign of the regime, a promise verification stage and implementation of the concept and program of work. Whether any nature, and what institutions will implement pro-poor programs, the most important for the people is the transparency and audit the progress of what has been achieved. Therefore, the program implementing agencies must be independent (as KPK), so free from the pressure of the government and opposition, but embracing all parties to participate. These programs, in addition to up-bottom, also necessitates a bottom-up movement that empowers civil society to raise yourself.
Lastly, here are some entry-point that could be a guide for all stakeholders in the pro-poverty programs: (1) revitalization and rejuvenation pro-poverty program in the last era that has positive values, such as farmers and fishermen groups (raising self-reliance and self-learning ), (2) strengthening the social security system (Social Security), which should be increased to a full guarantee on basic needs, and are equipped with basic employment (giving the "hook" and "bait"), (3) the economic independence of the people in the form of strong cooperative and accountable, (4) labor-intensive projects, especially for infrastructure, with a focus on remote areas outside Java, carried out in a planned and accountable, (5) the role of the middle class and UKMM, which should be supported by the pro-people policies , in order to absorb more labor, (6) the movement of independent, self sufficient with domestic products, exports of value-added finished goods, and optimal utilization of local genius.
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION
The problem of poverty anywhere is a very difficult problem to solve. Here are 16 ways you can do to mengentasakan poverty are:
1) Eliminate the ban on rice imports.
2) Invest in education with a focus on improving access and affordability of high school and vocational training for the poor, while improving the quality and efficiency of primary schools.
3) Invest in health with a focus on improving the quality of primary health care (government and private) and better access to health services.
4) A special effort is needed to address maternal mortality rate is very high in Indonesia.
5) Improve the quality of water for the poor by using different strategies for rural and urban areas.
6) Handle sanitation crisis facing Indonesia and its poor.
7) Launch large-scale program to invest in the construction of rural roads.
8) Extend (up to the national level) approach to community-driven development (CDD) Indonesia's success.
9) Complete development of a comprehensive social security system that addresses the risks and vulnerabilities faced by the poor and near poor.
10) revitalization of agriculture through investments in infrastructure and rebuilding research and extension.
11) Facilitate land titling and land reuse barren and infertile for productive use.
12) Creating a more flexible labor regulations.
13) Extend the reach of financial services for the poor and increase access to micro and small businesses.
14) Improve the poverty focus in planning and budgeting at the national level for the provision of services.
15) Run the program of capacity building to enhance the capacity of local governments to plan, budget and implement poverty alleviation programs.
16) Strengthen monitoring and review of the poverty program.
