Indonesia is under pressure to reduce its poverty rate by 15 percent each year within the next five years to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) poverty target.
Citing data from the Central Statistics Agency, Wilson Siahaan, the UN's Millennium Campaign member, said Tuesday that Indonesia's poverty rate was currently 34 million people, or 14 percent of the country's total population.
Although the figure is down by almost 7 percent from 2008, he said it was not enough to help the country meet the MDG target, which states the country must decrease poverty by half of the 2000 figure.
With Indonesia recording about 37 million people living in poverty - 19 percent of its total population - in 2000, the MDG said the figure must fall to about 18 million by 2015.
"It's critical that Indonesia use the time between 2009 and 2014 wisely to achieve the MDG by 2015," Wilson said at a press conference about the UN's planned campaigns to fight poverty from Oct. 16 to 18.
"The government needs to reduce the poverty rate by 15 percent a year," he said.
"A 10 percent decline per year may be sufficient," Wilson said.
"But we must aim to hit a 15-percent decline."
Indonesia can meet this target, Wilson said, if the government pays attention to the country's informal-sector employees, who account for 23 million people.
He said the government could potentially support 80 million in total.
"The government must legalize informal-sector work," he said.
"We must help it grow instead of being negative and believing small- and micro-businesses only congest streets."
Wilson also suggested the government provide health services for people living in poverty, under its health insurance scheme named Jamkesmas.
He said many people living below the poverty line were denied access to health services because they failed to present ID cards that prove they live in the regions they seek services.
Nova Riyanti Yusuf, a newly sworn in legislator from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, said the government had programs to reduce poverty, such as the empowerment program, PNPM Mandiri, which provided funds for small-scale businesses.
Nova said the education budget was "very high" and the health budget continued to grow. However she added supervision should be tightened to ensure funding went to the right people.
"The government is on the right track," she said.
"But the problem lies with monitoring.
"The House of Representatives must properly supervise the allocated funds," Nova said.
To ensure governments meet MDG targets, the UN has called for people across the globe to take part in its "Stand Up and Take Action" campaigns running from Oct. 16 to 18.
The campaigns are expected to break a Guinness World Record for the number of involved participants.
