President opens development planning Congress 2010

Antara News, Wednesday, April 28, 2010 14:03 WIB

Giving direction: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gestures during his opening speech at a national development planning meeting in Jakarta on Wednesday. Antara/ Widodo S. Jusuf

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here on Wednesday opened the National Development Planning Congress 2010 which will last until May 1.

Aimed at drafting the government`s Work Plan for 2011, the congress is being participated in by around 2,000 people consisting of, among others, governors, district heads, mayors from all over Indonesia.

The congress` theme is "Acceleration of Just Economic Growth Supported by Consolidation of Central-Regional Government Relations".

The theme is translated into 11 national development priorities in 2011, namely bureaucratic and administration reform, education, health, poverty eradication, food resilience, infrastructures, business and investment climate, energy, the environment, natural disasters, least developed regions, the most outer and inner islands, post-conflicts, culture, creativity and technology innovation.

The results of the earlier two working meetings led by the President and attended by governors from the country`s all provinces at Cipanas (West Java) and Tampaksiring (Bali Province), became inputs in drafting the government`s work plan 2011.

The congress is also expected to synchronize programs, main activities, venues and budgets prepared by the ministries and government institutions, which are considered urgent and need to be implemented immediately.

After delivering his opening remarks, President Yudhoyono is expected to present copies of two books titled "Guarding the Momentum for Change: Evaluation of the Five-Year Implementation of the National Middle-Term Development Plan 2004-2009" and "The Administration and Regional Development Implementation: Strengthening Synergy between the Central and Regional governments and Among Regions," to three representatives, namely Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo in his capacity as chairman of the All Indonesian Provincial Governments Association (APPSI), Pacitan District Head Sujono in his capacity as chairman of the All Indonesia District Government Association (APKASI), and Palembang Mayor Eddy Santana Putra in his capacity as chairman of the All Indonesia City Administration Association (APEKSI).

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Village Leaders Rally in Jakarta to Demand Rural Rights

Jakarta Globe, February 22, 2010

Thousands of village leaders staged a rally in front of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday. (Antara Photo/Rosa Panggabean)

Thousands of village heads flocked to the House of Representatives building in Jakarta on Monday for a rally to demand a better deal for people from rural areas.

Grouped as the Nusantara Rural People’s Association (Parade Nusantara), the village heads from across the country demanded that 10 percent of the State Budget (APBN) be allocated for rural people.

“Some 78 percent of the Indonesian people live in rural areas, and therefore it is only reasonable for us to demand that 10 percent of the APBN be allocated for rural areas,” Parade Nusantara spokesman Sudin Santoso said in his oration.

The group also urged the House to pass a bill on rural development into law immediately.

“The funds we demand are not for us as village heads but for rural development,” Sudin said.

He added that the rural development funds were needed to provide the rural communities with job opportunities to improve the welfare of residents.

“If job opportunities are available in rural areas, our children do not need to move to the cities and towns to find jobs,” Sudin said.

Besides demanding 10 percent of the APBN for rural development, the Parade Nusantara also demanded that village heads’ terms in office be extended from six years to eight or ten years.

The peaceful rally at the parliament building was expected to continue until late in the afternoon.

“We will wait until our demands are met,” said Jono, a village head from the Karanganyar region in Central Java.

The demonstrating village heads left their respective villages on Sunday and arrived in Jakarta on Monday morning to stage their protest rally.

Miftah, a village head from Tegal, Central Java, said he left Tegal on Sunday evening and arrived in Jakarta on Monday morning.

“We left on Sunday evening and arrived here on Monday morning. After the rally this evening we will return to Tegal by night train,” Miftah said.

Antara

Global warming threatens groundwater supply: Expert

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 12/04/2009 5:14 PM

Not only is global warming putting thousands of Indonesia’s islands at risk of sinking, it also threatens the country's groundwater supply, an expert says.

Heru Hendrayana, a hydrogeologist from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, said here Friday that groundwater volume in a number of regions has been proved to have reduced in the past few years, believed to be an impact of the warming earth.

"Global warming has led to climate change, which has immense influence upon the water cycle.

"It disrupts the wind and air pressure patterns and, in the end, causes changes in rainfall volume," Heru said after a discussion on drinking water in Jakarta.

He said although some regions enjoyed more rainfall due to the phenomenon, most suffered from less rain instead.

The reduced groundwater volume is evident in Yogyakarta and its surrounding areas, among others, he said.

Pollution is another threat for Indonesia's groundwater supply, especially in urban areas.

Heru said most groundwater supplies in metropolitan cities like Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya were contaminated with E. coli bacteria because of poor sanitation, not to mention the vulnerability of groundwater to seawater intrusion.

The growing number of industries, gas stations, and carwashes in big cities has exacerbated the threat, said Heru, who is currently studying how far they have affected the groundwater supply.

To make matters worse, big cities, which are typically crowded with buildings, lack the capacity to absorb rainwater.

Heru said urban areas could only absorb 20 percent of rainwater, compared with 30 percent for suburban and 40 percent for rural areas.

President: Let's consider moving RI's capital

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 12/03/2009 10:50 AM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said the idea of relocating of the national administration center from Jakarta should be considered.

Speaking to governors from across the archipelago at a gathering in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, on Wednesday evening, Yudhoyono said Jakarta was far too crowded to be the center of the national administration.

"Fifteen years ago there was a proposal to move the national administration center to Jonggol in West Java, but since the [1998] monetary crisis, ideas on relocating were no longer heard," he said as quoted by Antara state news agency.

Commenting on an idea to relocate the country’s capital to the Central Kalimantan city of Palangkaraya, Yudhoyono said it would not be practical because the city was too far from Jakarta.

But considering seeing the vast area of Palangkaraya, Yudhoyono said it was natural that its residents wanted to develop it into a better and bigger city.

He added it also made sense to develop Palangkaraya, because unlike other areas in the country, Kalimatan was relatively free of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

Yudhoyono and his entourage are in the city for a two-day visit to open the Indonesian Provincial Administrations Association (APPSI) national conference on Thursday.

RI warned of missing 2015 clean water target

Fadli, The Jakarta Post , Batam, Riau Islands | Wed, 12/02/2009 9:56 PM

Indonesia is likely to fall short of achieving its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of significantly improving access to clean water and sanitation facilities by 2015, warns the Association of All Indonesian Tap Water Companies (Perpamsi).

Poor clean water management, leakages and wasteful use of water are likely to cause the failure, it added.

Perpamsi head, Achmad Marju Kodri, told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the 11th Tap Water Company Conference in Batam, Riau Islands, on Wednesday that Indonesia had set its MDG target to ensure that 80 percent of urban dwellers and 60 percent of rural communities, which make up the total population, would have sustainable access to clean water by 2015.

However, the target is challenging as currently only 40 percent of urban residents and 30 percent of rural residents have access to potable water, he added.

“Indonesia definitely cannot reach its MDG target in terms of reducing the number of people without access to clean water due to various obstacles, such as poor clean water management and wasteful use of water. It also depends on the goodwill of the government,” said Kodri.

He said that only 60 percent of urban dwellers and 40 percent of rural residents in Indonesia would have access to drinking water.

“Cases of pipe leakages in Indonesia have reached 32 percent, people remain wasteful and most of the state-run tap water company (PDAM) heads in the regions are less professional, so much so that clean water supplies to residents are still ineffective and unequal,” said Kodri.

One in five residents in Mimika illiterate

Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post, Mimika, Papua | Tue, 11/10/2009 9:10 PM

More than 22 percent of the population of the Mimika regency in Papua, or about 40,000 people there, are illiterate.

Mimika, with a population of 175,000, ranks fifth in term of the illiteracy rate in the province, after Wamena, Merauke, Paniai and Nabire regencies, said Yesaya Sombuk, head of Mimika Education Agency, on Tuesday.

Papua itself has the highest illiteracy rate among the country’s 33 provinces

The agency is offering a three-month literacy course in the regency’s 12 districts with 1,200 residents joining the program, which kicked off Tuesday.

Those who are illiterate – both native Papuans and migrants – are found not only in remote areas, but also in urban areas, including in Timika, the regency’s capital. The first course, however, is targeting those in the hinterlands, mountains and coastal areas.

Mimika is home to one of the world’s richest gold mines operated by US-based company PT Freeport Indonesia.

Indonesia to spend $84 mln on solar energy in rural areas

People's daily Online, 13:40, November 02, 2009

Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry announced that it would spend 800 billion rupiah (about 84 million U.S. dollars) to build solar power plants with a total capacity of 2,234 kilowatts-peak to expand access to electricity in rural areas next year, the Jakarta Globe reported here on Monday.

"The electricity produced by the plants will benefit 150,000 to 200,000 households in different parts of the country," Jacobus Purwono, the ministry's director general of electricity said.

The Kilowatts-peak is a measure used to describe maximum out putby a solar power plant under ideal conditions, expressed in kilowatts.

An estimated 84 million of the country's 240 million population have no access to electricity, Jacobus said.

This year, the government has allocated 600 billion rupiah (about 62.4 million dollars) to build solar plants for 100,000 people. Under the ministry's 2010-2014 power generation blueprint, it would build 250 solar-powered plants across the country, he added.

In addition, the government also planned to build 570 micro hydropower plants with a generating capacity of 45.6 megawatts, to set solar power generating panels for 192,000 homes and to build 270 wind power generator with a total power capacity of 21.67 MW.

Source: Xinhua

Government to Bridge Digital Divide In Rural Areas

Ismira Lutfia, The Jakarta Globe, January 5, 2009 

In its 2009 budget, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has plans to develop a rural telecommunications network to reduce the digital divide between urban areas and outlying regions. 

Muhammad Nuh, minister of communication and information technology, said last week that the Universal Service Obligation program would help provide better telecommunications infrastructure and widen access to information and communications technology. 

“The program has been delayed twice, and it will ensure a maximum use of the budget if we can start it as soon as possible,” Nuh said, adding that his office would announce the winner for the USO project tender in early 2009. 

He said during a year-end press conference that the program would boost information technology penetration, and that it would not only provide telecommunication connections in rural areas where such service was now unavailable, but would also serve as the first step toward securing Internet access. 

“If the program goes smoothly, this will help to increase the public’s electronic literacy,” Nuh said, adding that the technology could also be used to access information in other aspects of life such as education, health and business, in addition to making electronic transactions possible. 

Nuh also said that his ministry had spent 74.45 percent of its Rp 1.3 trillion ($120 million) budget for 2008. 

“We have managed to maximize the use of our budget by being efficient in various expenses,” Nuh told reporters, adding that reduced electricity and Internet connection costs contributed to decreased expenditures. 

The minister said that merging similar or supporting activities between different working units within the ministry had also helped to streamline the budget, and that administrative procedures to withdraw financing money were now more efficient. 

Gatot S. Dewa Broto, a ministry spokesman, said that delays in withdrawing money had sometimes left projects unfinished and the budget unspent. 

“Spending the budget reflects how we conduct our activities, but it seems impossible that 100 percent of the budget can be spent,” Nuh said. 

He said that the research and development unit was the biggest spender of seven working units in the ministry, using up 85.6 percent of its budget. The post and telecommunications unit spent 81.6 percent, the inspectorate general 77.8 percent, the telematics application unit 71.7 percent, the secretariat general 70.9 percent, the public information body 69 percent and the communications and information dissemination unit 61 percent. 

Gatot said the ministry did not handle the budget by itself and therefore the remaining 25.6 percent was still with the State Treasurer. 

Nuh said that one of the expenditures in the budget was for producing regulations in cooperation with legislators from the House of Representatives. The main achievement in this partnership, he said, were the passage of two laws, on information and electronic transactions, or ITE, and on freedom of information, or KIP. 

The ITE law was passed in March while the KIP law was passed in April. Both laws have been met with strong opposition from activists and the media, who say some clauses in the laws could jeopardize the freedom of expression and information. 

The KIP law is considered a breakthrough in the country’s governance reform process and made Indonesia the seventh country in Asia to enact such a law. 

It obliges all bodies funded by taxpayer money to regularly disclose and update information regarding their institutions, and to provide easy access to information for those who request it.

Traditional markets get a boost

Novia D. Rulistia , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 03/08/2008 12:11 PM

The government has allocated Rp 140 billion (US$15 million) for the construction and renovation of traditional markets throughout Indonesia this year, an official said.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Thursday, the Trade Ministry's director general for domestic trade, Ardiansyah Parman, said the budget, although limited, was expected to cover the renovation of market infrastructure, especially in the regions.

Ardiansyah said the budget, which was increased from Rp 100 billion in 2006, would be used to finance the construction of 32 traditional markets, 42 markets in remote and undeveloped regions, five markets in border regions as well as on the smallest and outer islands, 10 markets in regions that had been hit by disasters and nine supporting markets.

"Ideally, the budget needed for the development of traditional markets is Rp 15 trillion," he said, adding that it would take years to cover the development of 12,000 markets in 462 regencies throughout the nation.

The government has said that the survival of traditional markets is at risk as more people shop at modern markets.

In response, the government is also urging vendors at traditional markets to improve their services and market conditions, to maintain customers.

The government also issued a presidential regulation in 2007, which, among other things, restricts the expansion of modern retailers, including supermarkets, hypermarkets and convenience stores, in certain zones.

Last year, 20 traditional markets were built in provinces hit by disasters, including in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Bengkulu, South Kalimantan and South Sulawesi.

In addition, seven traditional markets were built in border regions, such as Entikong in West Kalimantan, Skow in Jayapura and the Sangihe Talaud islands in North Sulawesi.

In remote regions, markets were built in the Mentawai islands, off the western coast of Sumatra, and Enggano off the southwest of Sumatra.

"For next year, we suggest that the budget for the development of traditional markets should be included in the special allocation funds (under the annual state budget) in order to speed up the development process," Ardiansyah said.

The role of local governments and the private sector in developing traditional markets also has to be stepped up, he said.

Reduce urbanization

Deden Rukmana, Savannah The Jakarta Post, GA

In February 2007, the worst flooding in Jakarta's history inundated about 70 percent of the city, killed at least 57 people and sent about 450,000 fleeing their homes. Almost exactly a year later, floods hit Jakarta again. This clearly indicates that flooding is an annual event in Jakarta. Fortunately, the extent of this year's flooding was not as great as in 2007.

Hours of heavy rain in Jakarta caused most of the main roads in the capital to be submerged in knee-deep water, bringing traffic to a near standstill. Thirty-seven of 267 subdistricts in Jakarta were inundated by more than 40 centimeters of water. Floodwaters caused public transportation, including the busway lines across Jakarta, to stop operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

One of the major impacts of this year's flooding was the inundation of the Sedyatmo toll road to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which resulted in the cutting off the highway for a few days. Nearly 1,000 flights were delayed or diverted and 259 flights were canceled. The monetary losses from these delays and cancellations could reach billions of rupiah.

The Indonesia National Air Carriers Association said the loss was about Rp 40 million for each hour an airplane was stranded. The loss is greater for flights that were diverted to other airports due to the additional costs for the fuel, ground handling, navigation charge and airport charge.

The poor drainage system was blamed as the primary cause of this year's floods, as claimed by Basah Hernowo, the director of forestry and water resource conservation at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), and Pitoyo Subandrio, the head of the Ciliwung-Cisadane Flood Bureau (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 2).

This year's flooding was due to local heavy rainfall, and was not combined with rain on the outskirts of Jakarta. Last year, then governor Sutiyoso blamed deforestation and overbuilding in neighboring areas that were supposed to be water catchment areas for the floods. This year such blame is not present. However, the threat of neighboring areas causing severe floods in Jakarta is still present.

The annual floods in Jakarta are strong evidence that Jakarta has not been able to sustainably accommodate its growth. Two centuries ago, the Dutch colonial government, with its long experience in controlling water and drainage systems, built a canal system to protect the city's population which was then 500,000.

Jakarta, which lies in a lowland area with 43 lakes and 13 rivers, relies on the canal system to prevent flooding. Today, Jakarta is a megacity with a population of nearly 10 million within the city's boundaries and more than four million in neighboring areas; yet, it still relies on the same canal system to avert flooding.

Not only is Jakarta the capital of Indonesia, it is also the economic, commercial, cultural and transportation hub of the nation. Jakarta is the prime city of Indonesia and it dominates the urban system. The population of Jakarta is poised to grow faster than other parts of Indonesia.

The annual floods also demonstrate how growth in Jakarta confronts private consumption and public investment in infrastructure. The Indonesian economy has grown at a robust pace of 6 percent a year and Jakarta has been Indonesia's primary growth machine. New homes, commercial and office buildings have proliferated in Jakarta and its neighboring areas, but hardly any new infrastructure, including the expansion of Jakarta's canal system, has been built in the past 10 years since the economic crisis hit Indonesia in 1997.

Neither improving the drainage system nor dredging the canals and rivers is a sustainable solution for the annual floods in Jakarta. The annual floods are strong evidence that rapid urbanization in Jakarta must be reduced. One way to reduce the rapid urbanization is to eliminate the pull factor of urbanization.

One major pull factor of urbanization in Jakarta is its function as the economic, commercial, cultural and transportation hub of the nation, as well as the capital of the country. Indonesia needs to redistribute the central functions from Jakarta to other parts of the nation and create more urban agglomerations to pull urbanization away from Jakarta. Relocating central functions out of Jakarta will not only make Jakarta more sustainable, but also create regional equality in Indonesia.

The writer is an assistant professor of urban studies at Savannah State University in the U.S. He can be reached at rukmanad@savstate.edu.

Isolated Maluku regency seeks to pave its way to wealth

M. Azis Tunny, The Jakarta Post, Ambon

East Seram, a four-year-old regency in Maluku, is developing land and sea transportation with the aim of escaping isolation, jump starting development and addressing widespread poverty.

Over the past four years, almost 80 percent of a 528-kilometer highway traversing Seram Island has been finished and the rest is slated for completion within the fiscal year.

"The regency's economy is maturing as subdistricts and villages are becoming connected and more farmland in the regency is under irrigation. More people travel to the provincial capital in Ambon and to other provinces now. And more traders are reaching the locals (in remote areas)," East Seram regent Abdullah Vanath told The Jakarta Post.

Asked why his administration had prioritized infrastructure development, Abdullah said without better infrastructure it wasn't possible to combat poverty.

When it was created, pursuant to the regional autonomy law in 2004, the regency had a total of 3.5 kilometers of asphalted road.

Even today the vast majority of population lives in poverty.

"Like other people, my family was also poor.

"Few people went beyond elementary school because you have to move to Ambon if you want to go high school or university," said Abdullah, citing a 2007 survey which found 78 percent of the population of 17,000 was living below the poverty line.

"My great desire is to complete the ongoing development of the infrastructure before my term ends in 2009 so that by 2010 the regency can start catching up with other regencies in Maluku and other provinces in the eastern part of the country."

Abdullah said, despite the high poverty rate in the regency, he was optimistic the main social problems would gradually be solved.

"Following the development of infrastructure and other facilities such as hotels and ports, investors will come to help explore the rich natural resources and people will seek better livelihoods, send their children to school and live modern lives."

The regency has considerable economic potential due to an abundance of natural resources such as timber, oil and gas. However, geographic isolation from international markets prevents exploitation.

Besides the geographical disadvantages, unpredictable climate conditions hinder farming and fishing.

Inadequate rainfall frequently limits harvests to one a year while stormy seas keep fishing boats from going to sea for long periods.

Sea passage to East Seram can be as difficult as the route overland.

Weeks may go by without the arrival of a cargo or passenger boat -- or even months during periods of bad weather.

Abdullah said that government as well as the people had to work harder to improve life in such a rugged, isolated place. However, he said, progress was just a matter of time.

The formation of the regency was hardly noticed by investors because of the absence of modern infrastructure. Meanwhile, construction materials and the most basic commodities can be extremely expensive due to transportation premiums.

Abdullah, who previously held a senior position in the Maluku provincial government, acknowledged that mismanagement had also affected development. He said a certain part of the development budget had "leaked out" due to weak oversight and law enforcement.

"Several local officials, including the chief of the local public works ministry office, have been declared suspects in a road construction graft case and they will be prosecuted in accordance with the law. Law enforcement is a must if we want to create good governance."

Massive tank solution for village waste in Malang

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Malang

"I only want to see the people in this village live healthy lives, with soil and water pollution eradicated so they can enjoy a clean environment," said Sunaryo, 50, a resident of the remote village of Boro Utarae in Curungrejo subdistrict of Malang regency.

Sunaryo, who only graduated from elementary school, said this was the reason he had generously donated some of his own land to a sanitation project.

"I want to let everybody use my land, provided they all benefit," he said as he accompanied The Jakarta Post to witness the construction of a giant septic tank in the backyard of his home.

Sunaryo donated a 12-by-22 square-meter garden block located behind his home to a community project.

Until the end of the 1980s, residents depended on the Brantas River for their water supply and as a place to dispose of human waste.

When people wanted water or needed to go to the toilet, the Brantas River was usually their destination. The community group head said 103 family households, or around 400 inhabitants in the village, did not have their own household toilet facilities.

"It was easy; when residents wanted a bath or needed to do their washing or go to the toilet, they would just head for the Brantas River," said Aspali, 42, a villager who supported the project.

Aspali said if the villagers were too lazy to walk to the river they would use the nearby fields.

These unsanitary habits were assumed to be the cause of polluted well water, as the wells absorbed harmful organisms that caused outbreaks of diarrhea and vomiting in the area.

As well as the resident's lack of awareness for the need for proper sanitation facilities, the geographical features of the land prevented easy access to clean water, Sunaryo said.

So, the villagers found it difficult to obtain water to fulfill their daily needs.

"It wasn't just a matter of building toilets, as villagers also had difficulty in finding clean water to drink," he said.

A few people attempted to search for water by drilling and building bathing, laundry and toilet facilities.

However, not many were successful. They had to dig more than 35 meters into the soil to find water and spent millions of rupiah on building the facilities.

Others who were less fortunate could not afford to build such facilities.

This situation caught the attention of the Environmental Services Program (ESP), a USAID project working on the development of community-based sanitation facilities in poor areas.

Together with the Malang Regency government, the ESP made funds available for a cost-sharing project to build a proper sanitation system that could be used by the whole community. The overall fund reached Rp 475 million (US$52,000), with Rp 200 million provided by the local government.

"There are many other locations proposing similar developments but we saw Curungrejo as the most prepared area, both in terms of the community's attitude and available land," said Bintoro W Prabowo, ESP's public outreach/communications specialist.

In November 2006, construction of a massive septic tank designed to handle waste from 200 households began. The project was scheduled for completion in January 2008.

The local government and ESP contributions were used to fund the construction of a giant septic tank measuring 5-by-15 meters and with a depth of 3.2 meters. The money was also used to build toilets for 103 households.

"Every family will get a water closet. Every closet will be connected to the main system through PVC piping. Then the waste will flow to the massive septic tank," said Aspali, pointing to a stack of toilet pedestals still wrapped in packaging.

Aspali said he was happy, as his home, and around 103 other households, would soon have their own water closets.

The residents' spirits were raised even higher after learning the regional water company in Malang Regency would guarantee a supply of clean piped water to their homes, as part of the sanitation program.

"Currently, almost half of the family water closets are functioning and the installation of the plumbing system is ongoing," said Ristine Aprilia, a community-based water supply and sanitation specialist with ESP.

Ristine said the residents were asked to participate in the project by donating money, so they would have a sense of ownership of the plumbing system and help maintain the community septic tank.

A total of Rp 5 million was collected from the residents.

"The money was given back to the villagers to be managed by themselves, so they felt a sense of ownership. They then used the money to pay a security guard and a maintenance man to run the septic tank," Ristine said.

"The residents are also able to benefit through selling waste collected from inside the septic tank ... which can be used as fertilizer."

Bintoro said data collected by the ESP revealed around 100,000 toddlers in Indonesia died every year due to diarrhea; this figure breaks down to 273 infants per day, or 11 deaths per hour.

The cause of diarrhea is the e-coli bacteria, which is transmitted from human feces to toddlers' stomachs through contaminated food and water.

Over the past 30 years, the Indonesian government has only been able to supply around US$840 million in aid to build sanitation systems across the country.

"This means the state allocation for sanitation was only Rp 200 (US$ 0.02) per year per person. This is far from ideal. For Indonesia, it is estimated the allocation should be around Rp 47,000 (US$5) per citizen per year," said Bintoro, citing ESP data.

ESP is now actively campaigning for the initiation of community-based sanitation projects in the greater Malang region (Malang City, Malang Regency Malang and Batu City), and is working together with local regency and city governments. Construction is underway in two other locations."This work will continue.

The most important thing is for the community to be aware of their needs. At least, there has to be someone like Pak Sunaryo."

Indonesia loses Rp 5.71t through unused lands

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Indonesia loses a potential Rp 5.71 trillion (US$630.40 million) annually from 7.15 million hectares of unused land across the country, or an area 110 times the size of Singapore, an official says.

That (the potential loss) is equal to our GDP or our production value for the whole year, including that produced by foreign companies operating here," head of the National Land Agency (BPN), Joyo Winoto, said here Wednesday.

Winoto made the remarks at a three-day seminar and congress of the Association of Indonesian Soil Sciences (HITI), which he officially opened at UPN Veteran University in Yogyakarta.

Some 500 scientists attended the event, which was held under the theme: Solution to the mismanagement of lands and water to help improve people's welfare.

Winoto said the estimated loss was based on a rough calculation of the existing use of lands across the country.

Winoto said unused land was often unable to be utilized or managed for productive activities as it was usually owned by either individuals or companies.

He attributed this to a lack of adequate regulations, saying Law No 5/1960, that should function as the basis for agrarian affairs in the country, was not effective.
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Another regulation -- Law No 56/1960 -- he said, dealt only with restrictions on land ownership for agricultural purposes for individuals.

"A regulation (on land ownership) for individuals for non-agricultural purposes does not exist yet ... neither does one for companies dealing with both agricultural and non-agricultural industries," Winoto said.

"What we have now is only a regulation set by the BPN head. And this is not enough. We are dealing with concession issuance. It's a state policy. So, a comprehensive law is required."

He said the concentration of private control over resources was unhealthy, especially over land and the economic and political resources of a nation.

"It's really very worrying to learn there is a holding company here in control of more than 400,000 hectares of land. That is seven times (the size of) Singapore," he added.

He said 56 percent of Indonesia's strategic national assets were under the control of only 0.2 percent of the total population of the country, creating gaps in social, economic and political matters.

The problem, according to Winoto, gets more complicated when it is related to the problem of poverty.

Some 39 million of Indonesia's population, he said, were economically poor, including 66 percent that lived in rural areas and 56 percent of which depended on agriculture for a living.

"It's quite interesting to learn that, in this independent country, 90 percent of the economically poor people are hard workers. They work hard but they are poor. Why?" Winoto said.

"I had a team look into this. It discovered that most poor people did not have access to economic and political resources, including land, capital and technology," he added.

Winoto expressed hope the HITI seminar and the congress would go beyond discussions on soil fertility and would also contribute to agrarian reform.

Govt warned of climate change impacts

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Researchers graduating from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) have called on the government to pay serious attention to a range of issues to help Indonesia better deal with the devastating impacts of globally-anticipated climate change.

The experts said they would coordinate with the Ministry of Environment to particularly include those living below the poverty line into the agenda for the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to be held in December in Bali

Endra Saleh Atmawidjaja is an urban expert from ITB and said the government should focus more on urban planning and development, rather than better managing waste to prevent environmental damage.

"Some 30 percent of city land should be used as green public space," Endra said.

"Malls only become artificial public space ... not able to absorb water, (as) parks do."

The various concepts by the researchers would be presented at the Bali conference.

Their research and various ideas are expected to support efforts to minimize the effects of climate change on developing countries due to the overuse of oil, gas and coal.

The implementation of agreements on this issue, like the Kyoto Protocol and the UNFCCC, has been slow, with some developed countries having refused to sacrifice industry to push down levels of green house gas emissions.

Irendra Radjawali is a tropical marine ecology expert and said, "The poor will suffer most ... they don't have the power to adapt to the changes affecting their lives".

"The right preventive actions are needed and research is an important tool ... to predict possible disasters," Irendra said.

And Endra said, "We strongly suggest providing complete data for the vulnerability index to measure the estimations precisely".

Dida Gardera, spokesman for the Ministry of Environment said, "By 2050, the increasing amount of sea water due to global warming is expected to inundate 2,000 islands in Indonesia".

Endra said, "By using this index, we will be able to figure out which islands will be inundated first, then we will prepare the right actions for that".

The vulnerability index, Endra said, was also expected to able to identify different approaches in different sectors.

"The anticipation for prevention in urban areas will differ from that in rural areas," he said.

One of the major concerns about the effects of global warming is the increasing level of urbanization.

Climate changes will decrease supplies of clean water as well as accelerate the loss of land mass, which would force rural people to relocate to urban areas.

Endra said this issue would expand political instability and lead to the decline of foreign investment in Indonesia. (rff)