Page 107 - Transformasi Masyarakat Indonesia dan Historiografi Indonesia Modern

Djoko Suryo

demic, levels of health and nutrition were very poor and in
general Indonesia appeared to have been left behind by its more
prosperous neighbors Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
The changes since 1970s, however, have been dramatic. Indo-
nesia has almost closed the gap on the Philippines in the per
capita income stakes and according to almost any indicator of
development that might be chosen its position has improved
sharply. On the scale of world development, we have witnessed
unprecedented rates of economic growth in Indonesia over the
past decades. In particular, a notable shrinking of the numbers
of the people living in poverty has occurred (by 1990 the poor
represented only 15% of the population) and there has been an
expansion of the growth of the middle class. In education, great
advances has been made over the past decades. In health, life
expectancy has risen and the infant mortality rate has been
halved over the past 25 years. These trends are cause for great
satisfaction. However, the improvement of living conditions as
shown by the statistics has not led to happiness. Generally the
man in the street or living in the rural areas is not so satisfied
with the distribution of income in the country. They are not
convinced that poverty is disappearing. They are dissatisfied
with the state of health services and with the education their
children are receiving at school and, most crucially, they are
dissatisfied with the employment prospects in the country. 8
What I want to say here is that the impact of the economic
crisis in Indonesia is very likely to aggravate unfavourable life
conditions, particularly for the rural people. Further, the fail-
ure of the government to overcome the economic crisis will
threaten the sustainability and stability of future economic, socio
political and cultural development. Besides, Indonesia now faces

8 Gavin K. Jones and Terence H. Hull, Indonesia Assessment, Population
and Human Resources (Canberra & Singapore: Australian National Uni-
versity, 1997).

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