Paskah Suzetta, Indonesian Minister for National Development Planning/Chairman of National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), said on Monday 02 Mar 09 that his office was still waiting for the official calculation results of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) on the poverty rate this year.

He then said that decreased is because of the his department programs that shall run in 2009 and also because of stand-by funds that was prepared for that matter.

Paskah then mentioned some of National Development Planning program in 2009 that he believed shall make the decline in Indonesia poverty rate which include social protection and assistance, people’s empowerment and strengthening of micro, small and medium enterprises and business.

He then added that the social assistance and protection included the education field, where the government would launch a school operational assistance (BOS) program for all levels in both state-owned and privately run schools.

In health sector, the government shall provide health care assistance for poor families where about 75.4 million poor people were expected to enjoy class III health service and all people would have access to health care centers.

While for people empowering of micro, small and medium enterprises and business, the government plan for 2009 is to allocate Rp10 trillion in order to support its National People’s Empowerment Program (PNPM). The program included the improvement of people’s resettlement, infrastructure, public facilities and the improvement of their social and economic environment through intensive labor programs

Well, in my opinion there are very good programs from Indonesian government. I especially like the program of micro small and medium enterprises and business (Usaha Mikro Kecil dan Menengah-UMKM) empowerment. As I mentioned on the my post before, the UMKM sector is really proven to be crisis proof and it can sustain our national economy since it absorp many work force. So Indonesian government should really pay more focus on this sector.

I just hope that these programs shall be continued even after the change of our nation administration this year !