This document is archived material. To search for similar content on this website which may be more recent, please click here.

Our words and actions must be on the side of the poor as Indonesia struggles to develop a political and economic system that will ensure opportunity, stability and justice for all of its people. I am encouraged that the recent events in Indonesia have occurred thus far with remarkable restraint on the part of the military, students and citizens in general. President Suharto has stepped down peacefully. An interim government has pledged to pursue political reform. For the most part, normality has returned to the streets.

Life, however, has not returned to normal for Indonesia’s poor and many of its children. James Tumbuan, World Vision Indonesia director, Dr. Anugerah Pekerti, World Vision Indonesia board chair and a member of the World Vision International board of directors, and World Vision staff in Indonesia fear that the continuing economic crisis will cause irreparable damage to the most vulnerable people.

Nine million workers have lost their jobs at a time when prices of essential commodities have increased as much as 400 percent. As a result, as many as half of Indonesia’s families now live below the official poverty line. Their lot in the immediate future looks bleak. The World Food Program estimates that 7.5 million Indonesians will not have rice, the country's staple.

Children are the first to suffer. A recent UNICEF study found that nearly 40 percent of the children surveyed were malnourished. Meanwhile, many poor families, unable to pay the fees, have withdrawn their children from school. A growing number of children have been forced into petty crime, drug trafficking and prostitution.

My hope is for a new, democratically elected government that will truly represent the needs of the poor. For a government that will negotiate financial terms so that the burden of economic readjustment does not further harm the poor. For a government that, working in concert with World Vision and other humanitarian agencies, will ensure that no child suffers for lack of food, shelter, health care, education or opportunity.

That is my prayer for Indonesia.