Yudhoyono says tackling poverty is key to stability

The main speaker at the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) CEO Summit, a gathering instituted to enable business leaders to interact with APEC leaders, was the president of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He said that “tackeling poverty is key to prevent political instability and safeguard in the common future.”

He talked about how economic stability effects the emotional state of the people suffering. "A poor community is an angry community. Three billion people worldwide living on two dollars a day are three billion resentful people. Seven hundred million people suffering from chronic malnutrition are seven hundred million disenchanted citizens."

Despite the destitute Indonesia is experiencing, Yudhoyono explains that they have managed to make steps to fight poverty. The country’s poverty rate for 2008 was 15.4 percent, down 16.5 percent in 2007, and from an incredible 42 percent in 1998. The poverty figure in Indonesia was the lowest in 10 years, in terms of actual numbers and percentages.

Factors such creating jobs, paying taxes to the government, developing technology and creating growth has contributed immensely in decreasing the numbers who are impoverished. He also said that Indonesia has vast natural resources but how they must remain in limitation. "It is the people who have unlimited potential. Economies thrive when driven by people empowered with skills, initiative, and innovation," he said.

This explains why is administration’s major concentration and investment is within education. He believes that the youth are their real riches, and he is proud that they have finally be able to reached up to 20 percent allocation for education in their national budget. The country is spending billions of dollars on rural education, rural infrastructures and better healthcare.