TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Alleviation (TNP2K) has submitted its final performance report in Vice Presidential Palace, at Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, Oct. 9. In the report, the team admitted the poverty gap remains the team’s homework albeit the rate could be suppressed since 2015.

The team executive secretary Bambang Widianto said the poverty level gradually slipped from 11.2 percent in March 2015 to 9.41 percent in March 2019. “For the first time, the poverty rate is recorded at one digit. The lower the rate, the harder the efforts to drop it,” he said.

However, Bambang said there is a concentration of state assets owned by the minority group of rich Indonesians. Even, the country ranked fourth with the highest poverty gap index below Russia, India, and Thailand.

“One percent of Indonesians controls 50 percent of national assets. If it raises to 10 percent of families, they dominate 70 percent of national assets, which means 90 percent of the population compete for the remaining 30-percent assets. That must be corrected,” Bambang asserted.

He explained that the root of the poverty gap is the access to basic needs that must be improved. Besides, schools, sanitation, health, electricity, up to clean water must be further developed to curb the gap.

Additionally, Indonesia is required to solve issues on employment. He believed jobs must be created through investment and infrastructure construction. “The most effective way is by increasing the effectiveness of taxation,” Bambang said.

EGI ADYATAMA