Inequality Remains Serious Issue

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

SDG\'s Asia Pasifik Scavengers walk along Jl Sudirman, South Jakarta, on Saturday (9/6/2018). Data from the Jakarta office of Statistics Indonesia (BPS) shows that the number of poor people living in the capital in March 2017 reached 389,690 (3.77 percent), while the unemployment rate in February was at 5.34 percent.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) varies greatly among different countries. Of the 17 goals, quality education is the one goal that has seen good achievement. On the other hand, reducing inequality remains a serious challenge.

Speaking on Monday at the opening of the annual SDGs conference in Jakarta, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that Indonesia had made good achievements in some of the SDGs. However, other goals had not yet been realized.

"The goals that have not been achieved by several countries, including Indonesia, are equality and justice," he said. One parameter that measures inequality is the Gini ratio. The higher the Gini ratio, the wider the wealth gap. Indonesia\'s Gini ratio fell to 0.389 in 2018 from 0.414 in 2014. However, this score was still considered a high score.

The SDGs are a 2016-2030 global development agreement that contains several targets. The agreement is an extension of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2000 to 2015 that were established on the principle of inclusiveness, that no one should be left behind in development.

The 2018 SDG Index and Dashboards Report mentions that the SDGs had mostly been achieved in Indonesia as targeted, such as No Poverty (Goal 1), Clean and Affordable Energy (7), Decent Work and Economic Growth (8) and Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (9).

The goals that have seen good achievement and need good management towards achieving the 2030 target include Quality Education (Goal 4), Gender Equality (5) and Sustainable Cities and Communities (11).

Good enough

The executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (ESCAP), Armida S. Alisjahbana, said that Indonesia’s achievement of the SDGs was quite good, because of strong government leadership and clear coordination among related agencies.

Of the 17 SDGs, only Quality Education had seen good progress in 2017 in the Asia-Pacific. The goals that were close to achieving were No Poverty (1) and Good Health and Well-being (3). "The achievement of the goal of Reduced inequality (10) instead suffered a setback," said Alisjahbana. If the 2017 target was difficult to achieve, achieving the 2030 target would be even more challenging.

National Development Planning Minister/National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) head Bambang P.S. Brodjonegoro said that Indonesia was committed to implementing the SDGs, as they were in line with national development goals, which complemented global development goals.

The government had also aligned the SDGs with Nawacita (9-point development programs) of the Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla administration, as stipulated in Presidential Regulation No. 59/2017 on Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. The SDG targets have also been included in the 2015-2019 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) and the 2020-2024 RPJMN.

"The achievement of ambitious SDG targets cannot rest on government funding alone," Alisjahbana said, that community and corporate participation was also important. She also pointed out that even though the central government had a large commitment to the SDGs, local government and other regional stakeholders needed to make a similar commitment.

The various problems in achieving the SDG targets lay in the regions. Population Affairs expert staff Sonny Harry B. Harmadi, at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Human and Cultural Development, said that Indonesia had entered its period of demographic bonus in 2012. A great effort was needed to translate the demographic bonus into an economic bonus. "Achieving the SDGs target is a prerequisite for transforming the demographic bonus into an economic bonus," he said.

(NTA/MZW)