Life is Healthy

Jakarta Globe | September 15, 2010

Amid the backdrop of towering buildings at Petamburan, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, slum dwellers live in squalor along the railway tracks. (Antara Photo/Yudhi Mahatma)

Antara News, Saturday, May 1, 2010 21:55 WIB

Karawang, W Java (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday asked state-owned workers insurance company PT Jamsostek to increase its assistance to workers, saying the aid would also help the development of the business world.

"I hope that Jamsostek can continue assisting workers in an effort to alleviate their financial burden as well as to improve their living standards," the President said when inspecting a factory owned by PT Mesindo Putra Perkasa in Karawang, West Java.

Yudhoyono said he supported Jamsostek`s call for the manpower and transmigration minister to approve a number of projects designed to increase assistance for workers.

Earlier, the president also visited a plant owned by PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia also located in Karawang. He had a lunch with 340 employees of the company.

The president`s visits to the two plants were part of his activities to mark International Workers` Day which fell on Saturday.

During the visit, Yudhoyono was accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto, Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono, Industry Minister MS Hidayat and Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar.

Antara News, Monday, April 19, 2010 18:31 WIB

Tampak Siring, Bali (ANTARA News) - The government will continue to improve its social and people`s welfare programs to eliminate prosperity gaps in society as called for in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

Speaking at a national working meeting of key central and provincial government officials at Tampak Siring Palace here on Monday, the president said : "Our purpose this time is to secure, improve, and make perfect our people`s welfare and social program," the president said at the meeting attended by cabinet ministers, provincial governors, regional legislative council (DPRD) chairmen, state enterprise (BUMN) chiefs, and state institution leaders.

At one of the sessions of the meeting, Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono explained the people`s welfare and social programs currently being carried out by the government.

"The poverty rate at present is 14.1 percent, the unemployment rate 7.9 percent. The number of poor people in Java is 57.8 percent and in Papua 4.2 percent," Agung Laksono said.

Therefore, he said, in the medium-term development plan 2010-2014, national development programs should be carried out justly and evenly across the country.

"Various efforts should be made to abolish social imbalances in various areas by expanding job opportunities in order to reduce the unemployment rate," Agung Laksono said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened the meeting on Monday morning in the company of Vice President Boediono.

The meeting would last until Wednesday, April 21, 2010, and was expected to produce a "Tampak Siring strategy" which would be implemented through a Presidential Instruction.

The meeting would focus on four things, namely Indonesia`s economic development over the next five years, an evaluation of pro-people programs, law enforcement and justice for the people, and efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

Antara News, Sunday, April 4, Amie Fenia Arimbi, 2010 03:14 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - It seemed to be an important day at Zinnia School in the Tebet area, South Jakarta. Students were marching around in the school compound waving small flags as if they were expecting an important guest.

Then, they do something else. They step on a stage placed in the middle of the school yard and begin to move their bodies like in a dance. Wearing white uniforms and long batik scarves, Nida (10) and seven other children enthusiastically shake their hips to the rhythm of a children`s song played on a radio tape.

At a glance, the Zinnia School pupils looked like common school children doing an outdoor activity. Actually they were not ordinary students because they were all deaf or otherwise physically disadvantaged. They made their dance movements by mimmicking their teacher who was guiding them from some distance.

Established since 1976, Zinnia foundation was initially a conventional kindergarten. But its owner, Imas Gunawan, in 1977 decided to change it into a shool for children with physical handicaps.

"We started by teaching 10 disabled students at the time. Now, Zinnia has 80 students of elementary and junior high school age," Imas said.

She said of the total of 76 students at Zinnia, half were deaf while the others were suffering from Down`s Syndrome. The school was teaching them abilities that would help them to manage on their own in their daily life.

Deaf students were taught to hear simple sounds such as those from a drum or gong in order to stimulate their reaction while Down Syndrome students were given simpler lessons such as how to pronounce daily words and differentiate colors.

"Using total communications, namely through sign language and lip movements, the teachers help the deaf students to listen to sound with the help of earing aids. We even teach them how to dance through a simple command system from a teacher backstage as performed today," Imas said.

Yayuk (45), teacher in the deaf students` class as well as the dance instructor said the students were very cooperative when attending class.

"Some hyperactive students need extra care while others are very slow in absorbing lessons so that the teacher needs to utter the same things repeatedly. But overall, I consider the obstacles as the risk of the job and I am pleased to be able to teach them" Yayuk said.

Meanwhile, Novika Prihartono (12), a street child from Sunter, North Jakarta, expressed his hope for a better life through education.

The fourth grade student in Elementary School 9 in Sunter said he used to help his mother to do the laundry or work at the nearest traditional market to earn money for his school fees.

"I used to do many jobs to help my parents providing daily needs for our family while paying my school fees. Fortunately, a friend in school told me to go to Aulia foundation for street and poor children. The foundation gives me a scholarship and allows me to attend some extra courses held in their building in Danau Sunter housing complex," he said.

Edi Hidajat, the founder of Aulia foundation, said street children also had the right to get education. The former successful entrepreneur argued street children or those coming from very poor families were often unable to get school education as a consequence of their activity in helping their parents to make money.

"We used to conduct an approach to the parent first, then the child. We give those children a motivation to continue their education. Some of our alumni have now become hotel managers and entrepreneurs. They have high motivation to get a better life," he said.

Now, Aulia foundation also provide health examination and micro finance training for housewives in the Sunter area.

Obstacle

Contrast with the disabled and street children`s spirit to get education, the Zinnia school and Aulia Foundation as the shelter for the children are having obstacle in funding their activity. As a private foundations, both Zinnia and Aulia fully rely on donations from foreign or private parties.

In 2003, when the Zinnia school building almost collapsed, the foundation received a donation from the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia worth US$81,000. The funds were used to rebuild the school purchase hearing aids for deaf students and basic needs for teaching activity such as cabinets and chairs.

"The donation is still not enough for the maintenance of school building and teaching equipments. However, we always try to make use of the funds to help the students to learn more," Imas, chairperson of Zinnia foundation, said.

The same story happened to Aulia foundation. The institution had received donations from the Netherlands, Sumitomo Bank, Jakarta-Japan Network and other private parties.

In 2001, Aulia foundation received US$68,000 from Japan`s Embassy in Indonesia to rebuild a four-story house in Sunter area which functioned as the center of the foundation`s activity.

Govt`s Attention

Minister of National Education, Mohammad Nuh, said the government was planning to increase the salaries of teachers at special schools to Rp4 million in 2011. The minister added apart from the salaries, the teachers could gain more from the incentive and other life support fees given by the government.

The minister added disabled schools would also get special incentives aimed to increase the quality of education given to students there.

As to the street children, the Ministry of People`s Welfare has committed to give a conditional grant in the form of savings to 6,000 street children in 10 provinces in Indonesia in 2010. Some of the provinces are Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Lampung, West Java and South Sulawesi.

In distributing the funds, the government will be assisted by several social institutions across Indonesia.

"The amount of the grants ranges from Rp900,000 to Rp1,8 million per child depending on the social worker`s estimation over the need of each sreet children," Director for Children`s Social Service at the Ministry of People`s Welfare, Raden Harry Hikmat, said.

He explained the program was aimed to help the street children to get access to health and education. The aid was also expected to help supporting the family and social institution to fulfill the basic needs of the street children.

"We had implemented the same program in five provinces in 2009. The result was quiet good, about 70-80 percent of street children were reuniting with their family again or continuing their formal education," he said.

The Jakarta Post, Antara, Pontianak| Sat, 03/27/2010 6:14 PM

Disadvantaged Regions Development Minister Helmy Faisal Zani said his office has allocated Rp 800 billion (US$88 million) in funds for infrastructure development in 147 regions.

"The disadvantaged regions need such an affirmative policy," said Helmy in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Saturday.

The minister said his office had initiated several programs for development in disadvantaged regions. They covered electricity provision and road construction.

During the visit, Helmy and Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a cooperation to enhance health services in remote and border areas and islands.

He said 26 out of a total of 37 regencies or cities in Indonesian border areas were categorized as disadvantaged regions. Such a condition is quite ironic as border areas function as Indonesia's front gate, he said.

"Development in remote areas is needed to accelerate the eradication of poverty there," he said.

A woman cleaning her child in a North Jakarta slum. According to the city’s Public Works Office data, 70 percent of the country is forced to wash in contaminated water. (Photo: Afriadi Hikmal, JG)

Manila. Seventeen million Asians have fallen into extreme poverty due to the global financial crisis, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations said on Wednesday.

And another 4 million could this year slip into the same situation due to the effects of the slump, officials from the two organizations said launching a joint report on poverty alleviation here.

This is on top of the 900 million people in Asia who are already living in extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.25 a day.

Asia had shown great progress in bringing people out of poverty in recent years, ADB vice president Ursula Schaefer-Preuss said. “But gains are being reversed due to the economic crisis,” she said.

UN Under-Secretary General Noeleen Heyzer said that people in the export and tourism sectors in Asia had lost and were still losing their jobs due to the crisis, which swept across the globe in late 2008.

Less foreign investment, aid and remittances from overseas workers were further hurting Asia’s poor, Heyzer said.

The report said more women, who form the majority of Asia’s low-skilled and temporary workforce, than men had been forced back into extreme poverty due to the crisis.

UN Assistant Secretary General Ajay Chhibber said the Asia-Pacific was doing quite well in areas such as infrastructure in achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals that are aimed at bringing people out of poverty.

“But it lags woefully behind in social issues,” he said.

Even Latin America and Eastern Europe had better “social protections” than Asia such as pensions and unemployment insurance, Chhibber said.

Only 2 percent to 3 percent of gross domestic product in Asia goes to such social protections, he said, adding that this figure should ideally be 4 percent to 6 percent.

This meant large numbers of Asians could fall back into poverty during the crisis or even during natural disasters, he said.

The report said the could protect itself from future crises though regional cooperation. “Regional cooperation would also be particularly valuable for the trade in food, and could include grain banks that are maintained in each country but readily accessible to others.”

Expanding Asian “monetary and financial coordination would be particularly useful to reduce external shocks such as with the global financial crisis.

Asian nations could consider diversifying their export markets to become less dependent on demand from the West, the joint report advised.

“By lowering trade barriers and creating more opportunity for the Asia-Pacific region to invest within itself, there can be a greater insulation against such crisis in the future.”

JG, AFP

Asian Development Bank

ESCAP, ADB and UNDP joint Report calls for strengthening social protection

MANILA (UN ESCAP Information Services) – A joint report by the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warns that the global economic crisis could trap an additional 21 million people in the Asia-Pacific region in extreme poverty, living on less than $1.25 a day.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in an Era of Global Uncertainty: Asia-Pacific Regional Report 2009/10, launched today in Manila, examines the toll that the global economic crisis has taken on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the Asia-Pacific region. Produced by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), ADB and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the report identifies opportunities for action – showing how countries of Asia and the Pacific can better protect themselves from this and future crises.

“This report shows that, while we are at a moment of crisis for the MDGs we also have an opportunity,” says Noeleen Heyzer, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP at the report launch. “As this crisis has exposed many vulnerabilities in the region – we can now address them and direct this recovery towards a stronger sustainable development path for the Asia-Pacific region.”

"Most stimulus measures have focused on areas other than social expenditures," says Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, ADB Vice President. "If we are to address the human impacts of the economic slowdown and achieve the MDGs, then social spending needs to be stepped up substantially."

"Asia has much weaker social protection compared to other regions such as Latin America and Eastern Europe,” says Ajay Chhibber, UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific and UN Assistant Secretary-General. “Without better protection people fall back into poverty with economic crisis, health pandemics and natural disasters and cannot recover easily, making the achievement of MDGs more difficult."

The report notes that long-term social protection can actually strengthen Asia’s resilience against future shocks. Yet the report finds that across the region, only 20 per cent of the unemployed and underemployed have access to labour market programmes such as unemployment benefits, and only 30 per cent of older people receive pensions.

If fiscal stimulus packages have a strong component of social expenditures, notes the report, this is likely to produce a double dividend – not only boosting growth more rapidly but also accelerating progress towards the MDGs.

Prior to the economic crisis, the region as a whole had been making notable gains, including being on track to achieve three important targets: gender parity in secondary education, ensuring universal access of children to primary school, and halving the proportion of people living below the $1.25-a-day poverty line. However, the economic crisis undermined the momentum.

Asia and the Pacific is still the home to the largest number – more than 50 per cent – of people, both rural and urban, without basic sanitation, of under-5 children who are underweight, of people infected with TB, of people living on less than $1.25 a day, and of rural people without access to clean water, according to the report.

It notes that in 2009 the crisis trapped up to an additional 17 million people in extreme poverty, and in 2010, another 4 million, giving a total of 21 million or roughly the equivalent to the population of Australia.

The most adversely affected segment of the population is women, who constitute the majority of Asia’s low-skilled, low-salaried, and temporary workforce that can easily be laid off during economic downturns. Moreover the crisis has reduced the demand for migrant labour – and women form nearly two-thirds of the total Asian migrant population.

The report points to opportunities for the region to protect itself and the MDG progress from future crisis though regional cooperation. Regional cooperation would also be particularly valuable for the trade in food, and could include grain banks that are maintained in each country but readily accessible to others, notes the report.

Expanding Asian monetary and financial coordination would be particularly useful to reduce external shocks such as with the global financial crisis. While fiscal stimulus is the most practical way of filling the gap left by declining exports, in the medium and long term, countries will need to generate domestic demand in a more sustainable way.

Countries can consider diversifying their export markets to become less dependent on demand in the West, suggests the report. They can boost trade within the region by liberalizing trade regimes and improving transport links, simplifying customs and inspection procedures.

By lowering trade barriers and creating more opportunity for the Asia-Pacific region to invest within itself, there can be a greater insulation against such crisis in the future.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in an Era of Global Uncertainty: Asia-Pacific Regional Report 2009/10 is the fourth regional MDG report for Asia and the Pacific produced by the three agencies.

For more information please go to: http://www.mdgasiapacific.org/.

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 02/08/2010 4:31 PM | National

Indonesian hospitals in general do not support the poorer sectors of society, as people still have difficulties in accessing adequate health services even though they have cards classifying them to be from low-income families.

The finding was announced during a meeting between the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Health Ministry in Jakarta on Monday.

For this reason, the ICW urged the ministry to push for the deliberation of a bill on a national social security agency (BPJS) to implement a nationwide welfare system in line with the 2004 law on the national social security system (SJSN).

The ministry was urged to speed up the establishment of the Hospital Monitoring Agency to help improve hospital quality in providing health services and erase discrimination in their services to poorer patients.

"The establishment of the Hospital Monitoring Agency is needed to ensure patients' rights and hospitals' fulfillment of their obligations as well as to mediate and monitor hospitals' ethics," said Febri Hendri, an ICW senior researcher for public service monitoring, as quoted by kompas.com.

Tempo Interactive, Thursday, 28 January, 2010 | 15:08 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Coordinating Department for People’s Welfare will establish an SMS center.

The Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono said that the SMS Center will receive people’s complaints, starting from problems relating to the distribution of rice for the poor, plague, natural disaster up to human trading.

“In the future, foreign aid would no longer be the one coming earlier during disasters,” Agung said in Jakarta yesterday.

Therefore, he said, government performance in handling people’s problem will be more swift and responsive.

”The SMS center should operate this month,” he said.

FEBRIYAN

Every year, 300,000 newcomers pour into Jakarta in search of new opportunities. Most will end up in one of the cities many slums. Although they are among the nation's poorest, these unwanted residents pay more than the rich for basic necessities like clean water, sanitation and solid waste removal.

This is the hidden reality of Asia's rapid industrialisation, which has condemned more than 28 million Indonesians - including around one third of Jakarta's 13 million residents - to life in the slums.

In East Jakarta, 70,000 makeshift shelters housing more than 200,000 people huddle on the banks of the Ciliwung River. Year after year these residents battle not only poverty, malnutrition and disease, but also the annual floods of one of the city's most polluted rivers.