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Government fails to stop development disparity, says INDEF
Indonesian President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo
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Indonesian President Joko âJokowiâ Widodo. (Kompas.com) (Kompas.com)
Indonesian President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo. (Kompas.com)
The development disparity between provinces is widening, with Java enjoying about 60 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP), according to research conducted by the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF).
INDEF researcher Dzulfian Syafrian said that under President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the government had failed to stem development disparity.
'Our research suggests that in terms of development, the Jokowi-Kalla administration is still Java-centric. It is no different from previous governments,' said Dzulfian at a media discussion on Friday.
INDEF data analyst Amanah Ramadiah collected 150,000 tweets from Indonesian Twitter users who wrote about nation development from October 2014 to October 2015. She categorized the tweets by provincial order, ranging from Sumatra to South Papua, to map the distribution of development throughout the country.
The result shows that Java Island is the most developed with its three provinces at the top, while North Maluku, Southeast Sulawesi and Central Kalimantan ranked the least developed provinces, respectively.
This problem has resulted in 860,000 (11.22 percent) more Indonesians falling into poverty this year. The Gini Coefficient, a statistical dispersion that represents income distribution, rose to 0.41 point, the highest in Indonesia's history.
The widening gap has affected the welfare of people, characterized by low human development index (HDI), concentration of wealth among few and rising food prices.
'The reason Indonesians cannot escape poverty is because the government cannot control food prices. They keep rising, while poor people spend 65 percent of their money on food,' said Dzulfian.
Meanwhile, noted economist Didik Rachbini said the four economic packages recently introduced by the government, particularly concerning access to loans for medium and small enterprises, had vast potential to narrow the disparity between the poor and the rich
'Therefore, the government should fully implement the first to fourth economic packages. It will help it restore Indonesia to a country of equality and prosperity,' Didik said. (bbn) (++++)
