PRESIDENT: DON’T CRITICIZE GOVT ON POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on Indonesians not to criticize or reprimand the government that is trying to step up public welfare and alleviate poverty.
“Don’t criticize. We should honor the ones that are currently governing the nation, taking over what was good from the previous governments and further improving it to fight poverty,” he told participants of a national meeting of PNPM (national program of Mandiri Community Empowerment) at the State Palace Wednesday (30/4).
The president wants regional governments to take active part in efforts aimed at increasing public welfare and exercise tight supervision over programs intended to empower the community.
“I hope that leaders in the regions be directly involved in the campaign to increase welare and empower the community. This is the consequence of being elected direct by the people,” he added.
The president said that the government allocation for the alleviation of poverty kept on increasing from year to year.
In 2004 it was Rp 10 trillion. It went up to Rp 25 trillion in 2005, to Rp 41 trillion in 2006, to Rp 51 trillion in 2007 and to 58 trillion in 2008.
It would be deplorable if the money is not put to effective use and thus could not benefit the poor. For this reason, all in the government should see to it that the money goes to poverty alleviation so that the number of the poor and the number of the unemployed go down.
PNPM Mandiri is participated in by 300 people from 233 provinces. They will discuss things to take further steps to alleviate poverty. (T.Ys/toeb/ton)
