The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) will carry out in September a national survey to update Indonesia's poverty data, which some claim is outdated.
"We plan to renew the 14 criterion used to determine whether people are living in poverty," Bappenas deputy chairman for poverty, workforce and small- and medium-scale enterprises, Prasetyono Widjojo, said at a Regional Representatives Council (DPD) hearing Monday.
For those living in urban areas, the 14 criterion take into account a person's consumption of 52 food products and procurement of 27 non-food products.
For those living in rural areas, the number of non-food products is reduced to 26.
Under the guideline, a person is categorized as living in poverty if he is included under any one of the 14 main points, which include living in a house that is smaller than eight square meters and having no access to clean water.
The House of Representatives said the points, which were drawn from a 2005 survey, were no longer relevant to current economic conditions, and that the government should renew the data.
According to the BPS, Indonesia has 19.1 million households, or 38 million people, living in poverty out of a total population of 220 million.
Based on the data, the government disbursed a monthly cash aid of Rp 100,000 to each household after it had raised fuel prices by an average 28.7 percent on May 24 this year.
However, some observers said the cash aid scheme was not fully successful because the poverty data was not valid.
"In September, we will start a survey that will give data that can be used as a basis for the government's poverty eradication program," BPS deputy chairman for social statistics Arizal Ahnaf said as quoted by Antara in a discussion on the cash aid scheme.
Arizal said the data would be more specific, including the name, sex and education background of each family member. The results will also be used for government health and education programs.
Each of the 70,000 BPS surveyors taking part, he said, would survey 600 households.
"That will be a challenging job as the number of regencies and cities have increased," Arizal said.
Indonesia has 33 provinces, 489 regencies or cities, 6,357 districts and 75,411 villages, the BPS said.
The 14 criterion of people living in poverty
1. Living in a house smaller than eight square meters.
2. Living in a house that has a low quality wooden floor, or no floor at all.
3. Living in a house where the walls are made from low quality wood.
4. Living in a house without toilet.
5. Living in a house without electricity.
6. Living without access to clean water.
7. Using wood, charcoal or kerosene for cooking.
8. Consuming meat or milk only once a week.
9. Buying only one set of clothes in a year.
10. Eating only once or twice a day.
11. Cannot afford to pay for health care at local public health center.
12. Foremost family bread winner earns below Rp 600,000 per month.
13. Head of the family has only an elementary school education.
14. Savings amounting to less than Rp 500,000.
Source: Central Statistics Agency (BPS)
