Letter: Poverty in Jakarta

This is a comment on an article titled “Jakarta sees fewer poor people, BPS claims,” (Dec. 15).

Perhaps the above article is worth an editorial. From the statistics cited, it seems the poor have simply moved farther out of the capital, to its fringes, but because we readers can’t compare the numbers in the areas cited from year to year across the time frame concerned, how can we know for sure?

I think the directions of the poverty reduction policies are laudable, but question several important aspects mentioned in this article where statistical data has been used in an unsatisfactory way.

As one who has visited Jakarta off and on across a 40-year period, I am interested to know more about a problem which has often been addressed in the past in an inhumane way.

Media Ms
Perth