ID :
124649
Thu, 05/27/2010 - 20:45
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/124649
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News focus: INDONESIAN JOURNALISTS AND POVERTY
By Rahmad Nasution
Jakarta, May 27 (ANTARA) - The fate of seven-year-old Puji Astuti, daughter of a poor couple in Bekasi district, West Java, is like the tip of an iceberg of malnourished children in Indonesia.
With a body weight of only 10 kilograms, Puji, who has been malnourished since about ten months ago, represents the impact of extreme poverty in this natural resources-rich country.
She is the daughter of Suryadi, 26, and Liah, 26, residents of Jati Mulya village, Tambun Selatan sub-district, Bekasi district, West Java.
Due to her family's economic condition, Puji was not brought to a clinic or hospital. Instead, she just underwent non-medical treatment once every three months.
"We cannot afford to have her treated in a hospital." Suryadi said last March.
Puji Astuti is just one of millions of malnourished children in Indonesia.
According to World Vision Indonesia, a non-governmental organization which plays an active role in fighting malnutrition, more than five million Indonesian children are malnourished.
However, this malnutrition was an "iceberg phenomenon" in which the number of minor, moderate, and serious malnourished children was often far higher than those seen on television, it said.
The fates of Puji and millions of other malnourished Indonesian children meet the concern of the United Nations-backed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
As one of 189 signatory countries of the "Millennium Declaration" in 2000, Indonesia is binding to the eight goals of the MDGs.
As stipulated in the MDGs' official website, Indonesia would reduce by half of its population living under the extreme poverty line and suffering from hunger to 50 percent by 2015.
"Currently, the proportion (of Indonesian people living in the extreme poverty line-ed.) is 7.5 percent or nearly 17 million people."
"At the national level, with a stronger effort, Indonesia will be able to halve the proportion of people who suffer from poverty and hunger by 2015," said the MDGs' official website.
The Indonesian Bureau of Statistics itself has recorded that the total number of poor people in the country reached 34,96 million (2008). In dealing with the poverty issue, the government has been doing a lot.
In helping more than 232 thousands of street children throughout the country, the social welfare ministry, for instance, has provided them with at least 400 shelter houses.
This poverty issue is not only the state's concern but also that of Indonesian media though lots of crusading journalists also live in "modest condition" as a result of their low-paid salaries.
Apart from this reality of life, senior journalist Rosihan Anwar, who recently celebrated his 88th birthday, reminded young Indonesian journalists of maintaining their idealism and paying attention to the less fortunate.
"Despite low-paid salaries, don't forget your idealism. Take care of the poor, our people are not all clever yet. Our journalists must not lose their idealism," he was quoted by Kompas Daily as saying.
Due to the fact that poverty remains a serious challenge for Indonesia, it has become part of timeless agenda for mainstream print and electronic media in the country for decades.
Noted Muslim Scholar Jalaluddin Rakhmat had ever reminded the Indonesian public of "the poor people's services".
In one of his articles published in his book "Actual Islam: Social Reflection of a Muslim Intellectual" (1991), Rakhmat referred to the arguments of Herbert J.Gans about the functions of the poor in human life.
In his book "The Uses of Poverty", Gans was quoted as arguing that there were 13 functions of the poor. Among them were lengthening the value of used goods, confirming the social status of the rich, and providing job markets for certain elements in society.
From the Islamic perspective, Jalaluddin Rakhmat said Gans' argument reflected the message of Prophet Muhammad's saying: "You are given lucks and helped by the poor among you."
Therefore, Prophet Muhammad had reminded his followers of remembering the poor at anytime they were blessed with facilities, enjoyment, and prosperity, he said.
"If you give some of the enjoyment you get to the poor, don't regard it as your gift to them but regard it as your debt to them," said the scholar whose popular nickname is Kang Jalal.
Jakarta, May 27 (ANTARA) - The fate of seven-year-old Puji Astuti, daughter of a poor couple in Bekasi district, West Java, is like the tip of an iceberg of malnourished children in Indonesia.
With a body weight of only 10 kilograms, Puji, who has been malnourished since about ten months ago, represents the impact of extreme poverty in this natural resources-rich country.
She is the daughter of Suryadi, 26, and Liah, 26, residents of Jati Mulya village, Tambun Selatan sub-district, Bekasi district, West Java.
Due to her family's economic condition, Puji was not brought to a clinic or hospital. Instead, she just underwent non-medical treatment once every three months.
"We cannot afford to have her treated in a hospital." Suryadi said last March.
Puji Astuti is just one of millions of malnourished children in Indonesia.
According to World Vision Indonesia, a non-governmental organization which plays an active role in fighting malnutrition, more than five million Indonesian children are malnourished.
However, this malnutrition was an "iceberg phenomenon" in which the number of minor, moderate, and serious malnourished children was often far higher than those seen on television, it said.
The fates of Puji and millions of other malnourished Indonesian children meet the concern of the United Nations-backed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
As one of 189 signatory countries of the "Millennium Declaration" in 2000, Indonesia is binding to the eight goals of the MDGs.
As stipulated in the MDGs' official website, Indonesia would reduce by half of its population living under the extreme poverty line and suffering from hunger to 50 percent by 2015.
"Currently, the proportion (of Indonesian people living in the extreme poverty line-ed.) is 7.5 percent or nearly 17 million people."
"At the national level, with a stronger effort, Indonesia will be able to halve the proportion of people who suffer from poverty and hunger by 2015," said the MDGs' official website.
The Indonesian Bureau of Statistics itself has recorded that the total number of poor people in the country reached 34,96 million (2008). In dealing with the poverty issue, the government has been doing a lot.
In helping more than 232 thousands of street children throughout the country, the social welfare ministry, for instance, has provided them with at least 400 shelter houses.
This poverty issue is not only the state's concern but also that of Indonesian media though lots of crusading journalists also live in "modest condition" as a result of their low-paid salaries.
Apart from this reality of life, senior journalist Rosihan Anwar, who recently celebrated his 88th birthday, reminded young Indonesian journalists of maintaining their idealism and paying attention to the less fortunate.
"Despite low-paid salaries, don't forget your idealism. Take care of the poor, our people are not all clever yet. Our journalists must not lose their idealism," he was quoted by Kompas Daily as saying.
Due to the fact that poverty remains a serious challenge for Indonesia, it has become part of timeless agenda for mainstream print and electronic media in the country for decades.
Noted Muslim Scholar Jalaluddin Rakhmat had ever reminded the Indonesian public of "the poor people's services".
In one of his articles published in his book "Actual Islam: Social Reflection of a Muslim Intellectual" (1991), Rakhmat referred to the arguments of Herbert J.Gans about the functions of the poor in human life.
In his book "The Uses of Poverty", Gans was quoted as arguing that there were 13 functions of the poor. Among them were lengthening the value of used goods, confirming the social status of the rich, and providing job markets for certain elements in society.
From the Islamic perspective, Jalaluddin Rakhmat said Gans' argument reflected the message of Prophet Muhammad's saying: "You are given lucks and helped by the poor among you."
Therefore, Prophet Muhammad had reminded his followers of remembering the poor at anytime they were blessed with facilities, enjoyment, and prosperity, he said.
"If you give some of the enjoyment you get to the poor, don't regard it as your gift to them but regard it as your debt to them," said the scholar whose popular nickname is Kang Jalal.
