City News - July 26, 2007
Jakarta - A network of social activists, urban planners and concerned citizens Wednesday called for a national action plan to create more livable cities.
The National Network for Pro-Public Cities had devised a proposal outlining actions aimed at change on the national, provincial and civil society level following a two-day workshop organized by the Jakarta-based non-governmental organization the Institute for Ecosoc Rights.
The institute's director Sri Palupi said government officials had to change the way they viewed urban poverty.
"The government has always viewed poverty as a personal or individual household issue when it is actually a communal problem which needs to be addressed inclusively," Sri said.
"If you look at Jakarta and study its vision and mission, all you'll find are abstracts -- normative terms that become difficult to put into action because nobody knows where to start."
The poor and marginalized are often left out of government policies despite being the very objects of poverty alleviation programs, she added.
"The government needs to start viewing poverty as a community issue and the urban poor as subjects to be empowered, like in the case of Bangkok," Sri said, referring to Thailand's urban community development program which succeeded in organizing street vendors and providing housing for the poor in the city and other regions in Thailand.
Seven percent of Jakarta's total population, or more than 675,000 people, are living below the poverty line, according to a 2006 census by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). Nearly 18 percent of Indonesia's total population of 221 million is categorized as living in poverty according to another BPS study published in early July this year.
Among the seven suggestions made for implementation at the national level, the forum urged the government to decree the implementation of legislation on regional autonomy, regional government and spatial planning.
The National Network also urged the government to abandon its emphasis on economic growth as an indicator of urban development and adopt people-friendly measures based on the safety of residents, social productivity and environmental sustainability.
The event was also attended by Bangkok municipal representative Somsook Boonyabancha and Thammasat University lecturer Pthomrerk Ketudhat, who were invited to share their success stories in civic democracy and community development.(09)
