Poverty in Indonesia and in the United States


“One day our grandchildren will go to museums to see what poverty was like.” Muhammad Yunus (Grameen Bank co-Founder)

Flag of Indonesia

Before I write about poverty in Indonesia and US, there’s two kind of poverty level; First, absolute poverty which is refer to being unable to afford basic human needs including clean water, health care, nutrition, clothes and shelter. Second, relative poverty which is refer to lacking a usual acceptable level of resources or income compare with others in their society or country level.

So, from those two poverty level, we can conclude that poverty means the condition where one person or a group of people who lack the certain amount of material or money to live their life.

Indonesia with its more than 17,000 islands is facing the poverty problem and it’s a widespread issue in recent years. Tim Nasional Percepatan Penanggulangan Kemiskinan (TNP2K) in March 2010 stated that;

  • The number of poor people in Indonesia (the population with per capita income below the poverty line) in Indonesia reached 31.02 million (13.33% population), down 1.51 million peoples from 32.53 million (14.15% population).
  • During the period of March 2010, the poor in urban areas decreased 0.81 million (from 11.91 million in March 2009 to 11.10 million in March 2010), while in rural areas decreased 0.69 million people (out of 20.62 million in March 2009 to 19.93 million in March 2010).
  • The percentage of poor people between urban and rural areas has not changed much during this period. In March 2009, 63.38% of the poor are in rural areas while in March 2010 increased into 64.23% of total poor people.
  • The role of food commodities to the poverty line is much greater than the role of non-food commodities (i.e; housing, clothing, education and health. In March 2010, food donates 73.5% poverty line while in March 2009 in 73.6% level.
  • Food commodities that affect the poverty line are rice, cigarette filters, sugar, eggs, instant noddles, onion, coffee, tempe and tofu. For non-food commodities are the cost of housing, electricity, transportation and education.

I’m quite shock that cigarette filters affect the poverty line.  How come? (that’s a question that we have to solve!).

Flag of the United States

What about Poverty in the United States? Please find it in the following graphic..!

Sharing & Discussion in @america about Youth & Environment Program

@america by Bagus Joesatriana

@america by Bagus Joesatriana

Last Tuesday morning (May 24, 2011) I was sleeping after having 8 hours travel from Semarang to Bandung from Future Leader Summit 2011, Ms. Swiny Andina from (Cultural Affairs Assistant U.S. Embassy Jakarta) waking me up from my sleep. Ms. Swiny asked me to participate as one of the speaker of the panel discussion in the Youth and Environment Program as a part of the Anniversary commemoration of Smart FM that is going to take place at @america on May 27, 2011 from 2 – 5 pm. This event will be live streamed via audio and video to 10 cities in Indonesia.

I will discuss on the importance increasing youth awareness on environmental protection as well as my American experience that I’ve gained during Study of the United States Institute (SUSI) on Energy and Environment period where I spent 5 weeks in 4 states during 2010 summer time with 21 participants from 6 countries and also how that experience contribute to my overall knowledge, motivation and drive to do more. I will also discuss about Forest Friends Project, a joint project from WWF-Indonesia & WWF-Germany run by 6 Forest Friends Ambassador (3 Indonesian & 3 German) divided into three teams; Yangki & Hanna, Rima & Lena and also Mia & Gerrit.

My talk show session will be moderated by Valerina Daniel, and the other speaker would be Randy Ahmad, one of the star of Sang Pemimpi, the movie. My session will take place between 4.10 pm to 4.35 pm. This event is free, feel free to come to this event. What you have to do is go to Pacific Place Mall, go to 3rd Floor and come to @america.

About @atmerica

@america is a one-of-a-kind, high-technology cultural center where visitors can explore, experience, and express their interests about the United States in fresh and exciting ways.  In the physical and virtual spaces of @america, you can experience cool and cutting-edge technology, interactive games, and live events designed to generate interest and create communities.

Experiment with touch-screen monitors, plaques, and tablet computers to access information about the diversity, culture, education, politics, and history of the United States.  If you don’t find what you’re looking for, our e-guides will be glad to show you how to use the center’s unique capabilities to further your exploration.
@america official website: http://atamerica.or.id/

Yangki Imade Suara from Bandung, Indonesia


Twitter@yangkiimade

Materi Presentasi di Future Leader Summit 2011: Environment Room

Yangki Imade Suara (WWF White T-shirt) with Environment Room Participants

Future Leader Summit 2011 Logo

Di acara Future Leader Summit yang diselenggarakan oleh teman-teman Mahasiswa dari Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Universitas Diponegoro yang dilaksanakan pada hari Mingu tanggal 22 Mei 2011. Pada kesempatan ini saya berbicara tentang pengalaman terjun dan aktif di lingkungan serta program-program yang saya ikuti mulai dari mendirikan Kandank Ilmu yang kemudian terpilih menjadi Best Project di acara Danamon Young Leaders Award 2009 yang diselenggarakan oleh Bank Danamon Indonesia. “keajaiban” dan “keberuntungan” yang membawa saya berkeliling dunia mulai dari acara Bliss Point 2009 di Delhi, India dilanjutkan dengan menjadi delegasi pemuda Indonesia di acara Konferensi Perubahan Iklim (COP15) di Copenhagen, Denmark. Dimana setelah acara konferensi saya memperpanjang liburan 2 minggu setelahnya untuk mengunjungi teman di Berlin, Jerman dan Warsawa, Polandia dengan hanya membawa satu tas kira-kira beratnya 7kg dan uang seadanya. Konsep backpaker pada umumnya.

Sedangkan pada tahun 2010 terpilih menjadi Forest Friends Indonesia dari WWF-Indonesia dan bekerjasama dengan Forest Friends Germany yang dipilih oleh WWF-Jerman. Dimana saya bekerjasama dengan Hanna Stanke, dan bersama dengan empat Forest Friends lainnya (Rima & Lena serta Mia & Gerrit) kami berhasil mendapatkan dukungan sebanyak 6,378 fans selama 4 bulan dan tahun ini dikonversikan menjadi penanaman 63,780 pohon di Taman Nasional Tesso Nilo.

Para peserta juga sangat antusias sehingga saya bisa membawakan materi presentasi serta diselingi dengan beberapa games yang tujuannya saling mengenal para peserta. Sepertinya games Jari-Jemari berhasil membuat para peserta kebingungan, tujuan dari games ini ternyata tercapai. BINGUNG.

Berikut materi presentasi yang saya bawakan dan silahkan di-download dengan cara mengklik tombol share dan kemudian copy link yang ada di kolom URL;
1. (you)th are the future of Indonesia.

2. Problem Definition Worksheet (PDW).

Berikut beberapa photo yang saya dapatkan dari Anita Nyit dan Pendi Setyawan Misbah AlFailasuf.

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Yangki Imade Suara from Bandung, Indonesia


Twitter@yangkiimade

Forest Friends : Together we help the Indonesian Rainforest

Right-Left: Yangki, Rima, Lena & Mia (Forest Friends Indonesia & German) (C) Rima's picture

Two countries, 11.000 kilometers away from each other, and so different in many ways. But they have also a lot of things in common – in Germany as well as in Indonesia many young people care about the future of their environment. Indonesia’s forests belong to the most biologically diverse habitats on Earth. They also keep the global climate balanced. Forest Friends is an initiative by WWF-Germany’s Youth Program “WWF-Jugend” in collaboration with WWF-Indonesia.

This Forest Friends project started in the end of May 2010 and end by September 2010. During this four month, Forest Friends team gather 6,378 fans and converted into trees plantation with total 63,780 trees will be planted this year (2011) in Tesso Nilo.

SUMATRA ISLAND & INDONESIA

The Indonesian Island of Sumatra is the only place in the world where tigers, orang-utans, elephants, and rhinos occur together in one island. This island has diverse natural forest types; represents the high plant biodiversity of mountainous tropical rainforest, lowland, and peat swamp forest. Sumatra is also high in plant endemism and is estimated to contain the largest store of peat carbon in Southeast Asia under its peat forests.

Yet Sumatra has seen the highest rate of natural forest loss not only in Indonesia but also in the world, due to transmigration, pulp & paper and palm oil production, and other development. Between 1985 and 2007, the island lost 12 million hectares of natural forest, a 48% loss in 22 years. By 2007, the island had only 30% forest cover (around 13 million hectares).

And this loss has substantial consequences not only on the biodiversity of the island and its people but also on our climate: gigantic masses of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. Should the deforestation of those precious woods be kept up at this pace, in 2020 there will be no natural forests left. It is time to act now!

But Indonesia is not the only place to suffer from deforestation and its consequences. The destruction of forests is a problem across the world: Every year a total of 13 Million hectars of forest are destroyed across the globe.

FOREST FRIENDS TEAM

Lena (German) & Rima (Indonesia) (C) WWF-Jugend

Lena Gottschalk (German)

She’s studying Political Science in Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (University of Göttingen) which is located in Göttingen City. Her hometown was in Burgdorf, Niedersachsen, Germany.

Rima Putri Agustina (Indonesia)

Rima is a long lasting environment activist, she’s working in Yayasan Pengembangan Biosains dan Bioteknologi (YPBB), Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. She’s graduated from Bandung Institute of Technology (Institut Teknology Bandung – ITB) from with bachelor degree in Ecology.
 

Visit their blog http://www.wwf-jugend.de/community/channel.php?channel_id=1

Yangki (Indonesia) & Hanna (Germany) (C) WWF-Jugend

Yangki Imade Suara (Indonesia)

That’s me, I just graduated from Padjadjaran University with Bachelor Degree in Economics. Since the end of 2008 I started to continue my interest in environment and I got so many chance to travel abroad, met new young people and distinguished scholar that focussed in environment but also in other field that related with environment.
 

Hanna Stanke (German)

Hanna had her bachelor degree from Fachhochschule Münster (Münster University of Applied Sciences), she’s working in Hamburg Department now and recently doing bike tour around German started from March 24, 2011.

Visit their blog http://www.wwf-jugend.de/community/channel.php?channel_id=3

Mia (Indonesia) & Gerrit (German) (C) WWF-Jugend

Mia Amelinda (Indonesia)

Mia is an undergraduate student and she’s studying Criminology in University of Indonesia. She’s active in Koalisi Pemuda Hijau Indonesia (KOPHI) and also Global Citizen Corps Indonesia (GCCI) as well with her involvement in some international conference.
 

Gerrit Köchling (German)

Gerrit went to Vardaman High School and he lives in Dortmund nowadays. He likes to play soccer and talk with him about Borussia Dortmund.

Visit their blog http://www.wwf-jugend.de/community/channel.php?channel_id=2

Right-Left: Yangki, Rima, Lena & Mia (Forest Friends Indonesia & German) (C) Rima’s picture

Yangki Imade Suara from Bandung, Indonesia

ACFTA; Sebuah Tantangan bagi Indonesia

ASEAN Map

China-ASEAN FTA Flag Source

Perjanjian Kawasan Perdagangan Bebas ASEAN-China atau lebih dikenal dengan istilah ACFTA telah berjalan selama satu tahun terhitung dari bulan Januari tahun 2010.

ACFTA sendiri merupakan suatu kebijakan perdagangan bebas antara negara-negara ASEAN dengan China. Usulan pertama dicetuskan oleh China di bulan November 2000 dan kemudian ditandatangani pada tanggal 4 November 2002 di Phnom Penh, Kamboja oleh sebelas kepala pemerintahan. China berani mencetuskan ide ini karena mereka telah memprediksi bahwa mereka akan menggeser Amerika Serikat di posisi ketiga dalam hal perdangangan dengan ASEAN setelah Jepang dan Uni Eropa di posisi satu dan dua.

Setahun perjanjian ini berjalan, ternyata produk China menguasai setiap lini di negeri ini karena menyediakan produk dengan kualitas seadanya dengan harga yang murah meriah semakin membuat produk China terus laku terjual.

Indonesia terkejut dengan pesatnya perkembangan perekonomian China yang terus menunjukkan dominasi mereka terhadap dunia luar. Jika kita membaca liputan harian Kompas dalam 3 hari terakhir ini yang membahas bahwa produk Indonesia sulit bersaing akibat harga bahan baku yang tinggi membuat permintaan akan produk China semakin meningkat akibat harga jual yang dibawah produk dalam negeri dan hal ini pastinya menguntungkan konsumen yang dapat membeli produk dengan harga yang lebih murah.

Jika saya diposisikan sebagai seorang pembeli, maka secara naluri saya akan membeli produk yang lebih murah karena saya akan memiliki kesempatan membeli banyak produk. Sedangkan jika saya berada di posisi sebagai produsen dalam negere, maka saya akan mengalami kerugian secara finansial karena produk yang saya hasilkan tidak laku di pasaran karena harga yang lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan produk impor dengan harga yang lebih murah.

Sudah saatnya produsen dalam negeri mencari cara untuk melakukan efisiensi di proses produksi sehingga bisa menghasilkan produk dengan harga yang lebih rendah dengan kualitas yang sama. Kendala di bahan baku harus dapat diselesaikan dengan bantuan pemerintah demi menjamin keberlangsungan produsen dalam negeri.

Neraca Perdagangan

Dilihat dari neraca perdagangan Indonesia dengan China, sebenarnya semenjak tahun 2007 Indonesia sendiri telah mengalami defisit untuk perdagangan non migas dan terus mengalami defisit hingga awal tahun 2011 ini (Produk China di Setiap Lini, Kompas, 11 April 2011). Akan tetapi negara-negara ASEAN lain terutama Malaysia, Singapura, Filipina dan Brunei dapat memanfaatkan ACFTA ini dimana mereka mengalami surplus perdagangan (Ekspor-Impor bernilai positif).

| PE = Pertumbuhan Ekspor | PI = Pertumbuhan Impor |

Surplus
Malaysia: PE 137.65%, PI 51.04%
Singapura: PE 37.40%, PI 29.79%
Brunei: PE 103.40%, PI 64.63%
Filipina: PE 265.83%, PI 155.80%

Defisit
Indonesia: PE 25.08%, PI 54.97%
Thailand: PE 28.65%, PI 37.98%
Vietnam: PE 25.72%, PI 53.04%

ASEAN Map. Source

Raul L. Cordenillo (Senior Officer, Studies Unit, Bureau for Economic Integration, ASEAN Secretariat) dalam tulisannya yang berjudul The Economics Benefits to ASEAN of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) yang dipublikasikan di website ASEAN Secretariat pada tanggal 18 January 2005 menuliskan bahwa setidaknya terdapat tiga manfaat ACFTA dilihat dari sisi ekonomi;

  • Enlarged Market Size and Enhanced Trade

ACFTA akan menyediakan kawasan ekonomi dengan 1.7 miliar konsumen, PDB sekitar US $ 2 triliun dan total perdagangan diperkirakan mencapa US $ 1.23 triliun. Hal ini menjadi ACFTA menjadi FTA terbesar di dunia berdasarkan jumlah populasi.

  • Removal of Trade Barriers, Specialisation and Enhanced Economic Efficiency

Fitur utama dari ACFTA adalah penghilangan batasan perdagangan berupa tarif masuk bagi produk impor. Penghapusan tarif masuk tersebut akan menurunkan biaya transaksi perdagangan, volume perdagangan akan meningkat dan meningkatkan efisiensi ekonomi.

Karena biaya impor turun dari aliran produk dari satu negara ke negara anggota yang lainnya, maka spesialisasi dalam proses produksi akan terjadi sehingga meningkatakan pendapatan riil di ASEAN maupun China karena sumber daya akan mengalir ke sektor-sektor yang lebih efisien dan produktif.

  • Improved Investments Prospects

Investasi di ASEAN-China tidak hanya akan didominasi oleh perusahaan dari negara anggota ACFTA, tetapi investasi dari perusahaan Amerika Serikat, Jepang dan Uni Eropa akan meningkat seiring dengan terintegrasi pasar di kawasan ACFTA karena resiko dan ketidakpastian pasar akan semakin kecil.

China Map. Source

Pemerintah (Belum) Siap

Saya tidak menuliskan bahwa pemerintah tidak siap akan dampak dari ACFTA ini, akan tetapi pemerintah Indonesia belum siap menghadapi dampak dari ACFTA ini. Ada banyak sebab yang mengakibatkan Indonesia belum siap terutama dari sisi internal Indonesia sendiri dimana saat ini pemerintah disibukkan dengan berbagai macam masalah yang membuat pemerintah tidak bisa fokus penuh di ACFTA.

Permasalahan tersebut melingkupi; Skandal Century, Gayus Tambunan, korupsi yang terus berlarut-larut, heboh Wikileaks, Malinda Dee hingga perombak Somalia yang menawan 20 ABK Sinar Kudus.

Pertanyaan besarnya adalah “sampai kapan kita (pemerintah) akan terus mengeluh tentang dampak negatif dari ACFTA?”.

Kita ini bangsa besar, maka kita harus berpikir bahwa kita besar sehingga negara lainnya akan mengakui bahwa kita ini memang bangsa yang besar.

Yangki Imade Suara dari Kota Bandung, Indonesia
Twitter@yangkiimade

Interview with Unpad PR Team about Forest Friends


>Yesterday I was interviewed by Lydia Okva Anjelia (PR Team Padjadjaran University) about Forest Friends Competition. Here’s the link and also I attach some picture for the article in Padjadjaran University site titled “Ayo Dukung Yangki Imade Tanam 100 Ribu Pohon” (Let’s Support Yangki Imade to Plant 100 Thousand Trees”.

Public Discussion on Environment and Cimate Change with Ms. Otero

Public Discussion on Environment and Cimate Change with Ms. Otero

Yesterday I got invitation from US Embassy Jakarta to attend Public Discussion on Environment/Climate Change with the Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Ms. Maria Otero. Go to Jakarta from Bandung used X-Trans Travel and meet with Lidwina “Cea” Marcella one of friends from Danamon Young Leaders Award 2009 in PBNU Headquarter. Together with Lidwina Marcella (LSPR), Jonathan Christian Susanto (LSPR) and Olivia D. Purba (UI).

In this discussion, Ms. Otero stated that youth all over the world have 3 biggest responsibilities;

  • To Learn

Everyone can learn from newspaper, magazine and even internet. Learn from what your country faces, what other countries around you faces and also global problem.

  • To Find Solutions

From all over problems, we have to find solutions. Don’t just criticize but made some suggestion. After we learn, we’ll know the way to find solutions.

  • To Act

And the last one is to act based on the way that we think and based on our knowledge and based on solutions that we have and we got.

I got a chance to ask Ms. Otero about Climate Change issue so my question is “After COP15, USA commit their emission reduction only for 17% based year 2005. I was one of International Youth Delegation to this conference and we also discussed with other youth all over the world that USA should reduce their emissions 30% based year 1995. So, why USA only commit to 17% emission reduction?”

Ms. Otero answered it that “Emission reduction need to be implemented with some regulation to make sure that we achieve our target. Thats why we only set 17%”.

To conclude the discussion, Ms. Otero said “From all over problems that we faced, we are part of the solutions”.

Left-Right: Joe, Cea, Kak Reni, Vishal, Oliv, Yangki
Ms. Otero with PBNU Representative as the speaker in this discussion
Find Ms. Otero on Facebook and Twitter

Facebook Twitter

This graphic was designed by Lorena O’Neal, you can check out more of
her work here.

Source: www.OnlineCollegeDegrees.net

Online College Degrees - Air Quality

Earth Hour 2010, Saturday 27 March 2010 Review


Photo Credit : WWF UK

Last night we celebrate Earth Hour in Wale, Dago Atas, Bandung with some friends and also my girl. After the National Debate Competition 2010 by HIMA IESP UNPAD Day 2, Adit ask me to having a dinner in Wale, Dago Atas. We go there along with Haikal, Adit’s Girl (Karina) and my girl (Shilva).

It was raining and after arrived in Wale around 8.15pm, I order Mie Ayam Rica-Rica, Mie Ayam Rica-Rica Spesial for Adit, Mie Yamin Spesial for Shilva, Haikal and Karina. While we eat our food some waitress turn of the light and when we ask them, they said “Earth Hour Mas”.

Wow, Earth Hour is a big trending topic for this month. After having dinner in Wale we decided to go to Bandung Indah Plaza because there’s a Night Sale. We arrived there around 10 pm and we decided to buy some items. I buy Formal Shoes and Airwalk Shoes, Shilva decided to buy clothes and a shoes, Haikal buy a Shirt and a shoes, Adit buy a shirt and Karina bough a t-shirt.

In my opinion, Earth Hour save electricity consumption for one hour. That’s right. But if there’s an event such as Night Sale for 3 hours started from 9pm till 12am. That just a slogan that we can save our earth. Instead of saving electricity, this would increase electricity consumption.

We back home around 00.15am and then watch English Premier League, Man United vs Bolton and the final score is 4-0 for Man United. OG, Berbatov, Berbatov and Gibson is the scorer. Glory Man United.