Social
While coping with the aftermath of the 1997 economic crisis, Sulawesi has been upgrading its social conditions. This can be seen in its health and education figures. In 2002, health conditions showed an overall improvement when compared with figures from 1999. For example, life expectancy in North Sulawesi (the highest in the island) was 70.9 years (up from 68.1) whereas Central Sulawesi (the lowest) was 63.3 (below the national average of 66.2). This is a cause for concern because the Central Sulawesi region is not poor; in fact it has the highest ranking in GRDP.
Life is getting easier in Sulawesi, even though there is still a lot of poverty and hunger in every region. Unfortunately, although it shows a slight improvement in coping with malnutrition, Sulawesi is still under the national average except in North Sulawesi (21.9 in 2002, improved from 25.8 in 1999). Meanwhile Gorontalo suffers the worst conditions with a malnutrition rate of about 42% in children under 5 years old. This year alone nearly 200 children were found suffering from protein-calory malnutrition (marasmic kwashiorkor). However, in general, a slight improvement in the condition has been noted.
Due to the financial crisis, all sectors uniformly experienced an increase in poverty incidence between February 1996 and February 1999, although some export industries in South Sulawesi and North Sulawesi experienced a short-term boom due to exchange rate effects. In 2002, the HPI declined slowly but open unemployment was still high. In South Sulawesi and South-East Sulawesi HPI score above the national HPI average while North Sulawesi shows the highest percentage of open unemployment (15%), followed by South Sulawesi (14.4%), while the lowest is Central Sulawesi (9.6%).
Education is still performing under the national average in Sulawesi. School participation in the 9 year basic education programme is relatively low compared to the average. The highest participation can be found in North Sulawesi (93.9%) with an average of 96.1% for 7-12-year-olds (elementary school). The worst rate for school drop out in 7-15-year-olds is 12.7% (highest in Gorontalo), while nationally it’s only 2.8%.
While in North Sulawesi the situation is relatively secure, the Central Sulawesi region is more volatile and clashes between groups are an ongoing threat. Environmental destruction due to mining (mainly gold) remains the top issue in this area since many researchers have found high levels of pollution in and around the mining sites.
References:
BPS-Statistic Indonesia et al., “Indonesia Human Development Report 2004: The Economics of Democracy: financing Human Development in Indonesia”, Jakarta: BPS-Statistic Indonesia, Bappenas and UNDP Indonesia, 2004
JICA, “Poverty Profile Executive Summary Republic of Indonesia”, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, February 2001
Tadjoeddin, Mohammad Zulfan; “ Social Violence in the Context of Transition: The case of Indonesia 1990-2001: working paper: 02/01- E”, Jakarta: UNSFIR, April 2002
UNDP, “Indonesia Progress Report on the Millenium Development Goals”, online: http://www.undp.or.id/pubs/imdg2004/ , 2005
World Bank, “Indonesia Country Brief”, Jakarta: World Bank, August 8, 2003
Indonesia – Government of Makasar, “Issues Paper prepared for the Makassar Regional Private Sector Forum”, Makasar: The Municipal Government of Makassar and the World Bank, June 25, 2003
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