Over half of Indonesia’s 235 million people are poor. Most struggle to survive on less than US$2 a day and about 18 per cent live on US$1 or less.
In the 1970’s Indonesia experienced economic growth accompanied by progressive social development. Then during the South-Eastern Asia crisis 1997/98 the Indonesian economy came close to collapse. Before the crisis, 16.8 per cent of the country’s families were officially classified as poor. At the height of the financial upheaval, the proportion of poor households in the country doubled. Using the $1-a-day measure, it is estimated that more than 80m Indonesians are in poverty.
Although Urban areas were hit the hardest they also recover the quickest, Millions of small farmers, farm workers and fishers are materially and financially unable to tap into the opportunities offered by years of economic growth. Approximately 60 per cent of the population live in rural areas where agriculture is the main source of livelihood.
Most of my time through Indonesia was to urban centres in Java - Jakarta and Bandung mostly… so here are a few photos to remind us how grateful we should be even be able to read blogs, because the people in these photos are just grateful to make it through the day. Today is blog action day, so share this post and give generously :-D
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Like any capital city in Asia, Jakarta is changing fast. Somethings change faster than others, often its the poor who get left behind. Something I always see going through Jakarta is the contrast of rich and poor, East and West. Its so easy to ignore one of the the other if you live here. I haven’t seen the poorest of people, But I have meet the richest. For me, a foreigner, the contrast is so blatant.
A baby used for begging
The 7-11 grind
Market Under a Bridge
New Apartments overlook a run down block
The Rich south side
Traditional shopping
Western style shopping: Pondok Indah Malls, yes two next to each other
Walking the streets, we saw this kid sleeping on the side on the road. It was 9:00am and obviously wasn’t going to school. The poor kid looked overworked and he picked a dangerous spot to doze off.
He was selling Mortar and Pestle, which weight easily 6 kg a set, he had 8 on him! I wonder what his quota for the day was? It took nearly a minute for us to wake him up, I couldn’t help but to feel sorry for him
He won’t make money sleeping, but then again hes just a kid. He wouldn’t take charity so we brought a set for $18,000 rupiah ($3).We didn’t challenge his price, we just paid him.
The pedicab driver / Tukang becak lives on the streets, servicing for cheap and just making enough to eat, he works hard with only jandles for his feet. He looks about 50 - but probably just 30, thats what happens when your day starts everday at 5:30. Whether is pissing rain or hot, no passengers is when he stops.
