Govt urged to pick up pace to eradicate poverty

Religious leaders and NGOs are urging the government to pick up the pace in its effort to end poverty in Indonesia.

Trihadi Saptoadi, the national director of World Vision Indonesia, said that it was the duty of the government to give its citizens the basic rights of financial sustainability, education and health.

“This is mandated by the Constitution; the government must see eradication of poverty as an obligation,” he said on the sidelines of an interfaith discussion on poverty eradication Friday.

The discussion was held to recognize the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which falls on Oct. 17.

Titik Hartini, from the Association for Community Empowerment, a consortium of the country’s 27 biggest civil society organizations, said that at the current pace, the government was likely to fail to eradicate poverty by 2015, as required by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

She added the poverty rate in the country “fluctuates depending on the policies that are in effect at the time of the survey”.

“For example, when the government distributed cash assistance, the poverty rate decreased, but when the policy was revoked, the rate went up again,” she said. (adh)