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he National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) and Muhammadiyah has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to control the birth rate and improve family welfare among Muslims, which make up 80 percent of the population.

The head of BKKBN, Fasli Jalal, said that since the 1970s his institution had been cooperating with the Muhammadiyah, one of Indonesia'€™s largest modernist Muslim organizations, and other religious institutions to curb population growth.

'€œThe cooperation with religious institutions boosted the family planning program as it has become a reference for people'€™s day-to-day lives,'€ he said earlier this week.

The family planning program was implemented in the 1970s after former president Soeharto signed the Declaration of Population Policy in Bucharest, Romania. According to data from the National Statistics Agency (BPS), in 1970 the population was 120 million, making Indonesia the fifth most densely populated country in the world.

Fasli said that the implementation of the family planning program had helped Indonesia reduce its high birth rate to only 2.28 percent by 2010. He added that this enabled Indonesia to record a population of just 237 million in 2010, far lower than the 340 million projected based on the bases the birth rate of 5.6 percent in the early 1970s.

'€œBy 2010, Indonesia had prevented the birth of around one hundred million babies, which meant that the rate of child malnutrition was reduced,'€ he said.

Din Syamsuddin, Muhammadiyah chairman, said that the cooperation would initially take the form of a pilot project, with his institution supporting BKKBN'€™s program by opening study centers.

'€œWe will open study centers in our 170 universities and also cover family planning issues, including sexual reproductive health, education and family management, at thousands of high schools,'€ he said.

He said that students would receive training at those centers so that they could understand their reproductive health and rights. The students would also be encouraged to discuss and share their knowledge of family planning with their peers.

'€œThese students could become mentors and counselors for their schoolmates,'€ he said.

Muhammadiyah participated in the government'€™s family planning program since 1970, when the debate over the pro and cons of family planning reached its peak among Muslim organizations.

Din said his institution believed that the public needed to implement family planning to ensure the welfare of its younger generation.

'€œEmpirical evidence shows that when a family is poor, it will be hard for parents to improve their child'€™s welfare and prosperity,'€ he said.

BKKBN'€™s deputy for Prosperous Families and Family Empowerment Sudibyo Alimoeso said that both parents and teenagers were important agents in tackling the issue of booming population since the 1970s.

'€œTeenagers and parents need to know that early marriage can lead to malnourished babies as well as high infant and maternal death rates,'€ he said. (tam)