Jokowi Says Indonesia Committed to Closing Wealth Gap
Jakarta. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said his government will continue its efforts to reduce income inequality in Indonesia, following encouraging results in overcoming wealth disparity over the past few years.
"Economic justice is a serious concern for us, especially regarding the poorest 40 percent of our population... efforts to achieve social justice for all Indonesians will never stop," the president said during his state-of-the-nation address in the national legislature in Jakarta on Thursday (16/08).
Southeast Asia's largest economy has managed to reduce its Gini ratio to 0.389 – the lowest in the past six years – thanks to land redistribution and cash transfer programs aimed at the country's poorest.
The government issued 5 million land certificates last year, 10 times more than just a few years ago. These certificates prevent land-ownership conflicts, while also allowing legal owners to develop their land, which would otherwise lay idle.
At the same time, the government is also trying to accelerate agrarian reform and land redistribution, Jokowi said.
The government has made 977,000 hectares of state-protected forests available to residents last year to use for agricultural purposes, while it also provided access to an additional 1.7 million hectares under the Social Forestry Program.
"It is accompanied by state assistance, so the main purpose of improving the welfare of society and living standards can be achieved," Jokowi said.
For the first time in history, the country's poverty rate declined to a single digit, at 9.82 percent, or 25.95 million people in March this year, compared with 11.22 percent, or 28.59 million people, in March 2015. The unemployment rate also declined to 5.13 percent in February this year.
Under the government's Family Hope Program (PKH), marginalized families receive Rp 1.89 million ($129) in cash payments to annually.
The government aims to assist 10 million families by the end of this year under the program, which only benefitted 2.7 million families at its inception in 2014.
The number of National Health Insurance (JKN) recipients has meanwhile also increased to 92.4 million people in March this year from 86.4 million in 2014.
Jokowi added that the government has further decided to set the gasoline price at the same level in Papua as in Java and the rest of the country to eliminate disparities between regions.
The government has also increased village funds, with a total of Rp 188 trillion having been allocated between 2015 and 2018. The funds are used for infrastructure development and to assist small and medium businesses in villages.
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