- Education: High quality education is distant dream for those who cannot afford it. In less affluent areas, many families cannot pay for their children's education because running costs are high and not supported by the government. Lack of accountability means teacher absenteeism is high, curriculums are not well implemented, students are mistreated or excluded for not grasping concepts quickly and children regularly go without meals for lack of food causing widespread malnourishment. In Nusa Tenggara Timur, one of the poorest provinces of Indonesia, three quarters of school aged children do not enroll or drop out of school each year because fees are unaffordable.
- Water and sanitation: In absolute terms, more than 40 million people do not have access to safe drinking water sources, and more than 100 million people lack adequate sanitation. In rural areas, village people walk across steep, rugged terrain to collect water each day representing a large opportunity cost on productivity. Furthermore, malaria is major issue associated with exposed bodies of water, affecting up to 20% of Indonesians. Immunisation rates are low due to lack of access to healthcare.
- Natural disaster: In recent years, Indonesia has suffered an unprecedented series of natural disasters due to its global position on active tectonic plate boundaries. Some of the more notable catastrophes include the Boxing Day Tsunami of December 2004 in Aceh, the Nias earthquake of March 2005, the Yogyakarta and Central Java earthquake of May 2006, and the West Java earthquake and tsunami in July 2006. In addition, outbreaks of disease and ongoing disruptions to local markets cripples disaster affected areas for subsequent months and years.
Sources:
CIA WorldFact Book - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html
The World Bank - www.worldbank.org
United nation Development Reports - http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/IND
Unicef - http://www.unicef.org/index.php