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Celebs recruited to lower RI birth rate
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 06/02/2007 8:53 AM
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) intends to revitalize the ""Two Children Are Enough"" drive by recruiting celebrities in its campaign to slow population growth in Indonesia.
Sugiri Syarief, head of BKKBN, announced Thursday that the board chose celebrities to promote the family planning program because ""people adored stars"".
The celebrities are Anna Maria, Anya Dwinov, Butet Kartaredjasa, Deddy Mizwar, Dewi Gita, Julia Rossie, Krisdayanti, Marissa Haque, Nurul Arifin, Olga Lidya, Ratna Listy, Rieke Dyah Pitaloka and Slamet Rahardjo. These public figures were awarded by the government for their past support of the family planning program.
""We recognize the high population growth in Indonesia at about 1.3 percent per year. If we ignore this, the country would have more than 250 million people by 2015,"" Sugiri said.
Under the reinvigorated program, Sugiri said, the country's predicted population would be limited to 237 million by 2015.
The BKKBN and the family planning program -- known locally by its Indonesian acronym KB -- were established in 1970 by a presidential decree.
""But since the reform era, the KB program has been considered a New Order product, bringing it to its downfall,"" Sugiri said.
Veteran actor Slamet Rahardjo said: ""I think the only successful program of the New Order regime was the KB program.""
In 1994, Indonesia signed an agreement on family planning programs at an international conference on population control in Cairo to concentrate the program on improving services and guaranteeing the reproductive rights of the people.
Asked about what action would be taken if the public ignored the program, Sugiri said: ""We won't do anything. Our duty is to recommend that people adhere to the KB program without hampering their reproduction rights.""
He added that the government would provide the family planning services free of charge to the country's poor.
Data from the BKKBN show that Indonesia's population is growing between 3 million and 4 million every year.
Sugiri said the BKKBN is currently working on three strategies to implement the family planning program: to involve all parts of society, to rearrange the planning program and to increase operational resources in the field.
Comedian Butet Kartaredjasa, who has participated in the family planning program for 26 years, said was asked by the BKKBN to help create its communication program.
""Celebrities have the power to steal people's attention. From their mouth, the issue about population growth will be covered by media and also heard by the public,"" he said.
Marissa Haque, a senior actress, said human beings need water, air and food to survive, and that these three essentials would be difficult to obtain if the world became overpopulated.
""As parents, our main focus is our children. But we also need to be happy. I am what I am now because I only have two children,"" she said. (08)
