Eastern Indonesia forum searches for solution to poverty

from The Jakarta Post

Panca Nugraha, The Jakarta Post, Mataram

Representatives of the Eastern Indonesia (KTI) Forum are meeting in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, to discuss ways of dealing with poverty and other issues in their region.

"There is a kind of imbalance in the implementation of development programs between the western and eastern parts of Indonesia, but the real problem lies primarily with us (representatives of the KTI Forum) as we have not been able to fully tap all our own existing potential," Marwah Daud Ibrahim, chairperson of the forum, told reporters.

"Besides requiring a different approach in the implementation of the decentralization development scheme in eastern Indonesia, each region has its own specific characteristics, which affect development itself," she said.

The third KTI Forum is being attended by representatives of regional administrations, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and legislative councils from 12 provinces in Eastern Indonesia, as well as international donor institutions, including the World Bank and Asia Foundation.

The forum is expected to end up with a recommendation to the central government for consideration when adopting any new policy, she said.

Meanwhile, State Minister of National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta underlined at the gathering the importance of giving authority to the community as holders of the reins in any decision and the utilization of natural resources for alleviating poverty in their regions.

In his keynote speech at the opening of the meeting, read by Prasetyo Widjojo, deputy chairman of the poverty and manpower section at the National Development Planning Agency, Paskah said that poverty alleviation based on community empowerment was successful if the community themselves managed to identify existing natural resources in their regions.

The success could also be marked by their ability to assess alternatives to settling poverty problems and taking proper action, he said.

"However, the authority entrusted to the community will not be effective without any process of empowerment ... so that in the autonomy era, the role of regional administrations as the facilitators of the community is badly needed," he said.

Paskah said that despite various regulations on the implementation of regional autonomy, decentralization and participative development had not been fully backed up with adequate education and training courses for state officials who were capable of hearing, understanding and serving the public.

He cited as an example development planning documents, which should have been compiled with the involvement of the local people, were frequently compiled merely through a consultative process and with a top-down spirit.

"The aspirations of the people, which should have been given emphasis, are usually used simply as a kind of footnote," he said.

The government through the national community empowerment program would strive to invite the participation of the public through the improvement of various regulations on development planning in both the central and regional levels, he said.