4 Indonesians wealthier than poorest 100m
Jakarta, Feb. 23: A report on inequality in Indonesia says its four richest men now have more wealth than 100 million of the country’s poorest people.
The report released on Thursday by Oxfam said Indonesia, with a population of more than 250 million, had the sixth-worst inequality in the world.
Within Asia, only Thailand is more unequal.
It blamed “market fundamentalism” that had allowed the richest to capture most of the benefits of nearly two decades of strong economic growth, concentration of land ownership and pervasive gender inequality.
The investment returns on the wealth of just one of the four richest, which according to the Forbes rich list include cigarette tycoons Budi Hartono, Michael Hartono and Susilo Wonowidjojo, would eliminate extreme poverty in a year.
The report said extreme poverty of less than $1.90 a day in income had declined sharply since 2000 but 93 million Indonesians still lived on less than $3.10, which was defined by the World Bank as the moderate poverty line. Oxfam said social instability could increase if the government did not tackle the gap between rich and poor.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said that reducing inequality is a top priority for his government.
A 2015 World Bank survey showed high levels of public concern about the gap.
The report said Indonesia’s tax collection was the second-lowest in Southeast Asia and the tax system was “failing to play its necessary role in redistributing wealth”. — AP