In the wake of the recognition that poverty is a multidimensional problem, Indonesia still favors the outdated measures of poverty based on income and consumption. While the sensible course would be to make a persuasive argument to adopt the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), this is not necessary for the time being. Indonesia is not yet proficient at the MPI and adopting it will just turn progress into broad, widespread chaos. The poverty data of Statistics Indonesia (BPS) might provide us with information on the main determinants of consumption-based poverty in the provinces. Yet, when it comes to the non-monetary dimensions of poverty, we remain clueless. The MPI measures deprivation in three dimensions — health, education and living standards — and looks at whether these different needs are being met. If they are, it means that people have the capability t...

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