Desy Nurhayati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Poor sanitation across the country has resulted in thousands of child deaths from diarrhea and the government must see improvements in this area as one of its most crucial goals, Basah Hernowo, director of settlement and housing at the State Development Planning Agency said Thursday.
Low awareness and a lack of access to sanitation are the main reasons the government should accelerate its development in all areas across the country, Hernowo said.
And it would require political will by the President to include sanitation improvements in the state budget because the issue was not yet one of the government's concerns.
""Improving sanitation is not merely about technical or engineering aspects, but also about advocacy in terms of the budget,"" Hernowo said.
""That is why political will is important in this matter.""
Indonesia is faced with nationwide sanitation problems, with around 24 million of the 220 million people in the country living without access to basic facilities, including clean water.
Underground water has been the country's main source of clean water but it is often contaminated with nitrite from pesticides.
It is also often riddled with Escherichia coli bacteria due to poor rural and urban sanitation systems.
It is estimated more than 80 percent of the country's underground water in urban areas has been contaminated with the bacteria.
As a result, 50 in every 1,000 children aged below five years have died of diarrhea.
Poor sanitation has also hampered the improvement of Indonesia's Human Development Index (HDI).
United Nations Development Program 2004 data showed the country's HDI at 0.697, placing Indonesia in 41st place of 102 developing countries worldwide.
Environmental expert Emil Salim said the public should also play a greater role to ensure the country improved its sanitation.
He said neighborhood administrations should be able to encourage people to take part in building sanitation facilities in their community.
In an effort to build a joint commitment among all stakeholders, the government is set to conduct the first National Conference of Sanitation from October 30 to November 1.
The event is expected to increase awareness among the country's decision and policy makers as well as related stakeholders.
Representatives from central and local government, universities, NGOs, business people, mass media, donor organizations and delegations from neighboring countries are expected to participate in the event.
The national conference is also in line with the United Nations' plan to declare next year International Sanitation Year.
Improving sanitation systems is also one of the eight points of the Millenium Development Goals (MDG).
An MDG focus is on ensuring environmental sustainability and Indonesia has agreed to work toward these goals and complete them 2015.
MDG was agreed to in 2000 by 189 countries worldwide.
By 2015, it is expected 72.5 percent of Indonesia's population would have access to basic sanitation facilities.
