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Social movement aims to reduce poverty in Bantul

Moved by the huge number of underprivileged families and poor infrastructure in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, the association of Bantul people has launched a social movement to urge successful migrants to give back

Slamet Susanto (The Jakarta Post)
BANTUL,YOGYAKARTA
Wed, September 24, 2014

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Social movement aims to reduce poverty in Bantul

M

oved by the huge number of underprivileged families and poor infrastructure in Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, the association of Bantul people has launched a social movement to urge successful migrants to give back. Called Makaryo Balek Ndeso, the movement encourages successful migrants originating from Bantul to set aside some of their fortune to help reduce poverty and develop their home villages.

Initiator of the movement, Suharsono, who is also head of the Banten Police'€™s psychological division, believed that the movement would help tackle poverty and develop infrastructure in Bantul.

'€œPoverty and limited infrastructure are the problems in the community. It'€™s impossible to solely depend on the regency budget to solve them,'€ Suharsono said during the launch of the movement in Gunung Butak village, Pandak district, on Sunday.

The man, who was born in Beji, Manding, Bantul 58 years ago, said that some houses in a village located less than 10 kilometers from the Bantul regency administration center did not have electricity.

The movement was marked with a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction a 24 square-meter house for Sukemi, 58, a resident of Gunung Butak who has been living in a makeshift hut for two weeks after her old house was completely damaged.

Sukemi, a batik artisan who earns only Rp 17,000 (US$1.4) for a 2-meter batik cloth that she normally finishes in two days, said it would be impossible for her to rebuild her house.

'€œThank you. Alhamdulillah [Praise God], it is like a dream for me to have people help me build a house,'€ she said.

Sukemi is just one out of tens of thousands of Bantul people categorized as poor. Bantul Social Affairs Agency data shows that the regency is home to 13,738 families categorized as very poor.

With the help of only a few Bantul migrants and construction material shop UD Sejahtera in Jodog, Pandak district, the movement is currently limited to helping poor families with housing construction.

Dwijo, a public figure in the village, said residents had agreed to set aside their time and energy to build humble houses for poor residents.

'€œHowever, these people can only offer their labor. They can'€™t make financial contributions because it'€™s already difficult for them to make ends meet,'€ he said.

In the future, Suharsono said, the movement should focus on developing the creative economy and infrastructure because he believed infrastructure could drive village development.

'€œMutual cooperation in Bantul is still very good. Combined with the support of successful Bantul people, we are sure that we can develop the region together,'€ Suharsono said.

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