Editorial: Save our children

Mon, 06/16/2008 10:03 AM  |  Opinion

What is so tragic about last week's news of the deaths of 21 children in East Nusa Tenggara through malnourishment so far in 2008 is not so much the deaths themselves but rather the reaction of government officials in Jakarta: Almost complete indifference.

Beyond an attempt at an explanation by a low level official in the office of the coordinating minister for public welfare, the central government did nothing to address the issue.

The Jakarta Post carried news of the accumulative deaths as a front page headline on Thursday, beating other stories of the day, including a follow-up to the government ban on the Ahmadiyah sect and the state of the economy after recent increases in gasoline prices, two issues which consumed the nation's attention last week.

Perhaps, in a reflection of where the priorities of Jakartans lie, most other national newspapers ignored the news completely. Perhaps they felt it was not worth a mention because it is now a daily occurrence in Indonesia, and there is nothing we can do about it.

This insensitivity of the central government and politicians in Jakarta, who are probably too busy preparing for elections next year, is tragic if not to say disturbing. Have we really lost our sense of humanitarianism to such an extent that we have no emotional reaction to the news? How many more deaths like these will it take before we can expect a government to take action?

Typically, local and national bureaucracies chose to play the blaming game.

The East Nusa Tenggara Health Office blamed budget cutbacks affected by the central government that reduced the capacity of local administrations to overcome the problem. This year, the central government allocation is a mere Rp 2 billion (US$220,000), down from Rp 57 billion last year. Because of the financial restrictions, the number of children who have died this year due to malnourishment has doubled from a total of 10 in 2007.

Poverty was certainly a factor in the chain of events that led to the deaths, but the fact that this province suffered fatalities last year should have raised the alarm bells. Instead, it looks like the provincial and central governments knew there was going to be a problem, but chose not to do anything about it.

Emil Agustiono, a deputy at the office of the coordinating minister for people's welfare, was about the only person in Jakarta who publicly commented on the situation in East Nusa Tenggara.

While acknowledging poverty as one probable cause, he said ignorance on the part of parents played a part in the deaths. Many parents from poor families, he said, allocated more money for cigarettes than nutritious food.

Clearly, this is not one of those issues that can be solved overnight. This is a problem that requires coordination among many different government agencies. But shifting the blame will not solve the problem either.

Even worse, there may be many other children in other provinces in the same situation that have simply not been reported. By the looks of it, Jakartans are simply not interested because they are too busy with their own problems.

Amartya Sen, the Nobel prize economist, in his seminal work wrote "No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy." In Democracy as Freedom, he said democratic governments "have to win elections and face public criticism, and have strong incentive to undertake measures to avert famines and other catastrophes".

Someone should buy copies of the book and give one each to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Abu Rizal Bakrie.

Did they know that through these deaths Indonesia has disproved Sen's theory. Granted, the incidents of malnutrition were not the result of famine, but that doesn't make a difference. Those three face elections next year. They should get their acts together if they wish to be re-elected.

Let's not embarrass ourselves by being the first country proclaiming to be a democracy that lets its children die from malnutrition. Instead, let's address the issue before it spreads to other provinces and certainly before we become completely insensitive to the news of children dying by the dozens.

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