Vice President Ma'ruf Amin: Extreme Poverty Occurs In West Java, Central Java, East Java, Maluku, Papua, And NTT

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin. (Photo: Doc. Setkab)

JAKARTA - Extreme poverty is still a problem in Indonesia. In fact, the government has also drawn up a plan to eradicate extreme poverty by 2024. However, Vice President (Vice President) Ma'ruf Amin believes that the government cannot eradicate poverty only by distributing social assistance (bansos).

Ma'ruf said that he recently made a working visit to various regions in Indonesia. Such as West Java, Central Java, East Java, Maluku, Papua, West Papua, and East Nusa Tenggara. According to Ma'ruf, there he and related parties intensively coordinated the handling of extreme poverty.

Not only that, said Ma'ruf, he also visited several centers of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the seven provincial capitals. The reason is because efforts to eradicate poverty also need to be supported by community economic empowerment.

"My consideration for connecting the two activities is that we will not be able to eradicate poverty only by providing social assistance, but it must be accompanied by economic empowerment of the people," he said at the Halal Trade Forum, Friday, October 22.

Ma'ruf explained that MSMEs have an important role in empowering the community's economy. It has even become the backbone of the national economy. During the working visit, Ma'ruf also observed the importance of the presence of the government and the private sector through holistic and comprehensive policies.

"All development policies must be intact and not sectorally separated, and must be provided to stakeholders and in accordance with the character and advantages of each region," he said.

To revive the national economy, Ma'ruf considered that Indonesia needs to focus on sectors that have the opportunity to grow positively. These include the food sector and the agricultural sector.

Furthermore, Ma'ruf explained that the two sectors are also at the top of the halal value chain or supply chain of halal products.

"This means that we are on the right track to develop Indonesia as the center of the global halal value chain," he said.

Therefore, Ma'ruf also invites all parties to direct their attention and energy to efforts to develop the halal value chain. There are several ways that can be done, first is by accelerating halal certification.

Second, mastering the ecosystem supporting the export of halal products, starting from production raw materials, standards, and export procedures, to marketing.

"The third is opening and capturing opportunities for exporting halal products in the current era of economic recovery. And the fourth is collaboration and integration of big businesses with cooperatives and MSMEs," he explained.