Indonesia must do more in lifting up its own people from poverty as it leads the other ASEAN member countries toward the formation of an ASEAN Community by 2015Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia must be able to accomplish positive things as the ASEAN chair in 2011, an international relations observer said.
"Indonesia must do more in lifting up its own people from poverty as it leads the other ASEAN member countries toward the formation of an ASEAN Community by 2015," said Elisabeth Adriana, a political science researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), here Wednesday.
She said so far Indonesia`s national policies were only focused on economic growth without regard for the equitable distribution of its developmental achievements. The government is only concerned about numbers and does not seem to care whether or not the grassroot people also benefited, she said.
"The government`s economic growth policies are disparate and benefit only certain groups of the population. The government only thinks about quantitative achievement, whereas many middle- and low-income people are still living in poverty. The policies are not in line with the principles of democracy," she said after holding a discussion on Indonesia`s ASEAN chairmanship in 2011 at the LIPI office here Wednesday.
Actually, there were two kinds of poverty, Elizabeth said, namely poverty related to income and poverty related to other things. Indonesia`s poverty related to income could be assessed by looking at the regional minimum wage (UMR).
"If jobs are provided but the wages the workers get are insufficient to meet their daily needs, the jobs do not mean much,." she said.
Poverty related to other things was about lack of knowledge and tolerance that was making it difficult for low-income people to get jobs and causing them to continue living in poor quality conditions, she added.
"Democracy is not merely a matter of general elections and the existence of political parties but also of improving the people`s welfare," she said.
Even more, the implementation of democracy concept in Indonesia had not been yet well done in some areas as political violence and bad legal exploration.
"In the Community of Democracies Ministerial Meeting hold in Poland on June 26-27, 2000, the representatives from all the member countries agreed to encourage political leaders to uphold the values of tolerance and compromise that underpin effective democratic systems," she said.
Therefore, she thought Indonesia must turn its government system to be a role model for ASEAN member countries.
"How can Indonesia lead the other ASEAN countries if its own governance is tainted by the fact that tax evasion and corruption defendant Gayus Tambunan was only sentenced to seven years in jail," she ended.(*)
KR-FNY/HAJM/S012
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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