Despite all the people living the high life in Bali in five-star resorts and luxury villas, the island’s poor population went up in the past year.
Bali’s governor, Made Mangku Pastika says he cannot totally understand why there’s still poverty on the island, reports Merdeka. Because according to Mr. Governor, Bali’s a tourism destination with trillions of rupiah in annual revenue. So naturally with all that money there shouldn’t be any more people. Good thing he’s in charge of things.
Pastika announced this week that the poverty rate in Bali went from 4.4 percent to 4.7 percent in 2014, while the island’s economy grew by 6.7 percent.
Nyoman Parta, a member of Bali’s regional council (DPRD), essentially blames the condition on Bali’s poor people themselves.
“First, it it’s due to comfort. It’s a disease. Residents feel complacent with the help of the government’s poverty alleviation program,” Parta said, as quoted by Merdeka.
But if that didn’t sound harsh enough, Parta also blamed inadequate education on regional poverty problems. “The more stupid, the more poor,” he said, as quoted by Merdeka.
But his comments didn’t stop there: “We have to agree to resolve strategic problems through education.”
This year, the provincial government of Bali has plans to operate 1,500 housing units, with one house valued at Rp 30 million, reports Merdeka.
Illustration: Wikimedia Commons
