Policy Research
In this edition, we invite our readers to broaden their understanding of the multi-dimensional character of poverty in Indonesia as well as relating some of the efforts to engage in more effective poverty reduction.
In this edition of the SMERU Newsletter, we focus our attention on rural issues and the agricultural sector. Even though the numbers have been declining, around 60% of Indonesia’s people still live in rural areas, and the agricultural sector still provides the main source of income for around 45% of the population.
Welcome to the first edition of the SMERU Newsletter in our second year as an independent organization. This edition focuses on various issues concerning the determination of minimum wages. From April to Oktober 2001, SMERU conducted a major study in this area, using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A summary of the main findings of our work is presented in this edition.
The first half of this year has flown by. We have experienced a host of social, economic, legal and political problems that have left us all feeling exhausted. Yet, as a nation we still have to solve another equally crucial problem, the question of poverty. This edition deliberately sets out to highlight poverty as an important issue which must not be allowed to become a secondary priority on our national agenda.
In this era where employees are free to organize their own labor unions, industrial relations issues have become a topic of heated debate, especially as new bills on “The Development and Protection of the Workforce” (RUU PPK) and “Industrial Relations Dispute Resolutions” (RUU PPHI) are soon to be ratified. We would like to raise the issue of industrial relations as the main topic for this edition.
