Economic Analysis featured in Kontan Weekly, Edition 23-29 August 2010,

page 39

Quality of Life

By: Wahyu Susilo

There is something absent from the State of the Nation Address and the Introductory Address on
the Financial Note to the Draft State Budget for 2011 delivered consecutively by President SBY
on 16 August 2010 at the Plenary Session of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) and
the Regional Representatives’ Council (DPD). Unlike previous years where President SBY
normally would explicitly mention on the downward trend of the poverty rate in Indonesia,
President SBY this year however has made no reference to the country’s poverty level for 2010.
President SBY only spoke on the aim of achieving an 8-10 percent reduction in the poverty rate
by the end of his administration in 2014.

There are several possibilities on why the poverty rate was not mentioned in the presidential
speech. First, to avoid debate on the validity of computations for the poverty rate. Second, there
may be a rise in the poverty rate to the extent that the President is reluctant to disclose it. Third,
the poverty issue is no longer a priority issue. Regardless the reason, any one of these
probabilities would have been distressing.

President SBY’s state address did indeed touched on the global commitment to eradicate poverty
under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but it failed to make any mention of the
profound challenges that the country must face in order to achieve these goals in merely 5 years
before the MDG deadline.

Apart from making the mistake of mentioning 2014 as the deadline for MDG achievements (it
should be 2015), President SBY also did not elaborate on what Indonesia must do to prepare
itself for the Millennium+10 Summit scheduled for September 2010 at the UN Headquarters in
New York. This Summit will evaluate on all progress made and barriers faced in achieving
MDGS during the last ten years. During the summit, Indonesia will act as the spokesperson for
Asia Pacific countries, presenting the results of the Special Ministerial Meeting on MDGs in
Asia and the Pacific held in early August 2010 in Jakarta. To make matters worse, the
Introductory Address on the Financial Note to the 2011 Draft State Budget failed to make any
mention of using MDGs as development indicators for Indonesia.

Deteriorating Quality of Life

It is indeed valid for the government to show optimism with regard to Indonesia’s economic
performance if it is measured according to the positive assessment of economic rating agencies
such as Fitch, S&P and Moody’s. The government however should not turn a blind eye to the
reality of the further deterioration of the quality of human life in Indonesia in the past 4 years.
Based on UNDP’s Human Development Report, Indonesia’s life quality continues to experience
a descending trend. In 2006-2007, Indonesia was ranked 107th place, sliding further to 109th place
in 2008 before reaching the position of 111th place in 2009. This position is even worse than
Palestine (ranked 110th) and Srilanka (ranked 102nd), both are countries which remain stricken by
armed conflict.

Thus far, Indonesia’s progress towards achieving MDGs has been troublesome. During the
opening of the Special Ministerial Meeting on MDGs in Asia and the Pacific held early this
month in Jakarta, Vice President Boediono admitted that Indonesia needs to work much harder to
meet its MDG targets by 2015.

The government can indeed continue to build a sense of optimism in achieving MDGs by
publishing the country’s MDG Progress Report and declaring that Indonesia remains on track.
Are such claims however consistent with the reality on the ground?

Claims of success stories in eradicating poverty and starvation can be contrasted with field
realities of malnutrition, hunger and starvation, and food price hikes, spiraling out of control.
Statements on the rise in school participation rates for primary education to almost 100% can be
weighed against the reality of increasingly prohibitive educational expenses and compromised
quality of education. In the past five years, it is a proven fact that a disproportionate number of
children who have completed their primary education in Papua and North Maluku remain
illiterate.

Indonesia is said to have been able to curb its maternal mortality rate. Despite the Indonesian
government’s claim that it has succeeded in curtailing the maternal mortality rate from
307/100,000 live births to 228/100,000 live births, the reality on the ground shows a different
story as revealed by various international agencies. According to WHO (also the source of
reference for UNDP, UNFPA, ADB and the World Bank), Indonesia has failed to rein in its
maternal death rate which has instead escalated to 420/100,000 live births from 307/100,000 live
births.

Indonesia’s failure to meet its MDG targets can also be gauged from the continued widespread
deforestation of the country’s forest areas which help provide the world’s oxygen supply, the
substandard quality of drinking water and sanitation as well as the inability to bring an end to its
foreign debt compulsion.

These are the realities that need to be addressed and their possible solutions sought, and not to be
concealed from the State Address delivered during the country’s Independence Day.

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Wahyu Susilo, the writer is the Program Manager for INFID (International NGO Forum
on Indonesian Development)