JP/STEVIE EMILIA
Sugiri Syarief, the head of the National Family Planning Coordinator Board (BKKBN), says he lives life by going with the flow.
He dreamed of being a pediatrician, but ended up in a job no less important, working on curbing Indonesia’s population growth to ensure the country’s socioeconomic development.
The trained physician is so versatile in his career he was appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2004 to the job of secretary general of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), while working as director for male participation at the BKKBN.
“I kept going with the flow. The KPK needed a secretary general. They asked for each department to pick a name. BKKBN sent mine. And I came out first [from all the nominees]. I just followed through,” he said in his office.
“Some people still can’t believe it. A doctor becoming the secretary general of the KPK? How can that be?” he remarked.
But, he proved his worth, immersing himself into human resource management books and helping the super body — the KPK — become a sophisticated organization with high integrity.
“It’s clear now that the KPK is sophisticated and respected. It was hard to build,” he said with a laugh.
Sugiri served the KPK until 2006, when he returned to BKKBN as the head of the national board.
His task at the BKKBN is not an easy one. The nation’s widespread family planning (KB) program, developed under the Soeharto regime, collapsed after the reform era and regional autonomy.
With decentralization, the infrastructure of the KB program was left in tatters. In 2003, only 30 percent of cities and regencies in Indonesia had family planning agencies.
Because many family planning programs were devolved to regions, the previously authoritative BKKBN, which played a key role in the national KB program implementing directives through a linear chain of command, had to take on a more consultative approach with cities and regencies.
Sugiri was tasked with reducing the fertility rate to 2.2, the population growth from 1.7 percent to 1.3 percent, and raising awareness about methods of contraception. Currently the fertility rate stands at 2.6.
To make sure the KB programs are running properly in the regions, Sugiri travels to more than a hundred cities and regencies in a year.
“In a week I can travel to two cities,” he said, adding that he visited areas where program implementation was weak. “We see they need support, so we go down to the field. I go there to enliven their spirits,” he said.
“If I don’t do that, the programs would not run,” he said.
“You know how people in the regions behave. When the head comes, they will start working on the program to show what they have. With me coming, they would have to work,” he said.
Campaigning for two children per family, Sugiri is fervently opposed to polygamy and unregistered marriages, as he believes they hamper the family planning programs.
“I strongly oppose polygamy. Polygamists tend to have more children as they have more wives,” he said. Sugiri, who graduated from medical school in 1979, said he had dreamt as a child of joining the military. His aspirations changed over time and he wanted to be an engineer.
“I didn’t make it to engineering. I was admitted into medical studies instead. That’s how I became a doctor,” he said.
In 1983, he earned a place to study pediatrics at Gajah Mada University (UGM) starting in 1986.
However, before entering UGM, he was offered a scholarship from the government to study in the US.
Three months after his youngest daughter was born, Sugiri left for California. “I was given two years to finish my studies, but because I wanted to enroll in UGM in 1986, I finished my studies in a year,” he said.
He found it difficult to be away from his young family while studying in the US. “By the time I returned, my youngest daughter did not recognize me,” he said.
When he came back to Indonesia and told the BKKBN head Haryono Suyono that he was planning to further specialize, the latter told him it wouldn’t be that easy.
“He said the government had just funded my studies in the US. So if I wanted to go to UGM, I would have to pay back the money the government had spent sending me to the US.”
Haryono suggested Sugiri defer his enrollment instead. UGM gave him another spot in 1989.
“However, that was too long a wait for me, and by that time I had lost interest. There went my dream,” he said smiling.
Sugiri said he learned a lot in the US, especially when it came to freedom of thinking and independent learning, which he practiced when bringing up his daughters. Sugiri, abiding by the government’s recommendation on having two children, has two daughters.
“I taught them that all men are equal and everyone has rights and obligations. I tell them to express their opinions. And I support their ideas, even though I sometimes think they are not that good,” he said.
His two daughters, aged 27 and 28 are not married yet. One will tie the knot in the near future. “One of the ways to decrease the fertility rate is to delay the age women marry. When women want to join the workforce and build something, they usually wait longer before getting married [and having children],” he said, adding his was grateful he had children.
“I never thought about wanting a girl or a boy. I’m just happy with what I was given… and I praise God for that.”
