Strong Political Will Needed to Resolve Structural Inequality

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Representatives from Kompas and the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute attend a joint discussion themed "Indonesian Inequalities" on Monday (8/7/2019) at the Kompas editorial department at Kompas Tower, Central Jakarta. Professors Vedi R. Hadiz and John Murphy, as well as researchers Rachel Diprose and Ariane Utomo from the Asia Institute were speakers at the discussion, which was opened by Kompas chief editor Ninuk Mardiana Pambudy and also involved University of Indonesia lecturer Inaya Rakhmani and Smeru Institute senior researcher Athia Yumna.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS  —Post-reform democratization that has been ongoing for more than 20 years has yet to resolve inequality in access to power. This leads to persistent socio-economic inequality. The inability to resolve structural inequality may lead to social dissatisfaction in the future.

Based on National Social and Economic Surveys (Susenas) in the past decade, Indonesia’s gini ratio since 2010 has been fluctuating on an upward curve, reaching the highest level of 0.414 in September 2014. This then decreased and reached the level of 0.384 in September 2018.