It's Been A Long Time Since UI Chancellor Ari Kuncoro Appears Talking About Poverty, What's Wrong?

UI Chancellor Ari Kuncoro (Photo: Screenshot of The SMERU Research Institute Youtube)

JAKARTA – The Chancellor of the University of Indonesia (UI) Ari Kuncoro said the COVID-19 pandemic had a considerable impact on people's social lives.

According to him, on a macro scale this creates volatility and economic disruption, especially when it first strikes in 2020.

“Workers lose their livelihoods and become unemployed, poverty increases and deepens. This community vulnerability can pose a danger and inequality is a serious threat to Indonesia and many countries in the world," he said when speaking in a discussion entitled Multidimensional Poverty in the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Wednesday, July 27.

Ari added that the pandemic still affects all aspects of life.

For this reason, efforts to monitor and eradicate poverty are an important step to be able to achieve the goals of sustainable development.

“This is a very crucial need for Indonesia. Based on this, innovative solutions are urgently needed to solve the problems of poverty and vulnerability in this country," he said.

For information, the government through the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) claims that the percentage of poor people in March 2022 was 9.54 percent or decreased by 0.17 percentage points against September 2021 and decreased by 0.60 percentage points against March 2021.

The number of poor people in March 2022 was 26.16 million people.

This figure is slightly lower by around 340,000 people in September 2021 and a decrease of 1.38 million people in March 2021.

“I hope that this discussion can produce a relevant solution to the challenges we face together. Let's work together to achieve prosperity without anyone being left behind from the recovery process during this pandemic," concluded the academic who had caused a stir due to concurrent positions some time ago.