While a certain vice governor-elect of Jakarta may think Indonesia has a declining birth rate problem (and that the Jakarta government should create a dating program to address it), reality tells a very different story, with many experts worried about an impending overpopulation crisis in Indonesia.
Clearly, other people in the Indonesian government consider high birth rates a problem too. In fact, the government of Yogyakarta in Central Java is currently offering men Rp 1 million incentive to persuade them to get vasectomies as part of their family planning programs.
“Since last year we have given incentives to men who follow the family planning program with the male surgery method so that the number of male participants will increase,” said the Head of Yogyakarta’s Population Control and Family Planning Office, Eny Retnowati, on Sunday as quoted by Kompas.
Eny said that men only make up a minuscule .69% of all of those participating in the city’s family planning programs. By comparison, 32.46% of those in the program are women who have used it to acquire IUDs.
Besides the cash incentive, Eny said the government was attempting to socialize the family planning program to male participants through several methods, including traditional art performances, in an effort to convince men that it was not a “scary thing” (presumably referring to getting a vasectomy).
Eny also said that they were targeting men whose wives were unable or had difficulty using traditional contraceptives.
According to the city’s family planning office’s records, there are 43,749 couples of childbearing age in Yogyakarta and out of those, 31,045 couples or about 71%, participate in the family planning program.
In fact, Eny said that the population growth rate in Yogyakarta City is 2.1%, which is actually lower than the national average, but said that number could increase rapidly without strong family planning programs.
While it may be difficult to convince men to get vasectomies, it will remain the best way to get men to do their part for family planning, at least until Indonesian scientists finally make good on their promise of a male birth control pill.
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