It seems that we will not run out of stories when we talk about poverty
in Indonesia. We can write about them in dozens of novels or hundreds of
essays. It may be about a poor family in a big city, or a deprived family in a
coastal area.
The setting and background of those two stories might be different, but
the message and the problems are almost the same: limited opportunities to change
their living standards.
Based on Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data, the number of impoverished
people living in Indonesia in 2011 is only around 30 million. However, other
data illustrates that the welfare levels of Indonesians is still relatively
low.
The number of people eligible to get raskin (rice for the poor), for
instance, is around 76 million people (32 percent of population), almost the
same number as those who are eligible for health services for the poor.
Read more...
