The 56-year-old, who goes by one name, has been driving a three-wheeled taxi, or “bajaj”, since 1994, taking passengers through the back streets to avoid the city’s notorious traffic jams.But the COVID-19 restrictions on movements, and other safe distancing measures, are killing his livelihood.
“The pain lingers, day and night. I can’t sit still, let alone sleep. I need to walk around to distract myself. It’s painful just to talk about it,” he said. Stories of poverty, hunger and joblessness have become a common thread running through many of the vulnerable segments of Indonesia’s population these days.COVID-19 has not only brought the economy to its knees, but also reversed decades of progress in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
“But these are the segments of society the most vulnerable. I think the risk of them just going back into poverty is very high.” The bulk of his regular customers have been laid off or told to work from home. But he cannot afford to give up ride-hailing because his family cannot live off just one source of income.
In Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, dance troupe leader Sugiyanto is also struggling to make ends meet. His troupe, which performs the “reog”, a traditional masked dance, relies solely on money from event organisers.In normal times, with the usual public cultural and private events, they can receive up to 20 million rupiah a month, divided among members of the troupe.
“We’ve pawned everything valuable … including our vehicle ownership document and TV set. The last items we pawned were our wedding rings. We were desperate,” he said. “We had to do it, otherwise the children wouldn’t be able to eat.”Only two years ago, Indonesia made history when it reduced the poverty rate to a single digit for the first time since independence in 1945.
“We’re expecting to have a 6.3 per cent deficit, and that’s to cover almost 700 trillion rupiah of additional spending for COVID-related , including for the economic recovery.” Analysts put the blame for the slow distribution of aid on red tape, inadequate data on applicants and the country’s sheer size.Torikhim is one of those who have yet to receive any help from the government. “It’s not that I’m begging for pity … but I swear that I haven’t got anything. Neither has my wife,” said the taxi driver.“Even our social safety net programme, which is covering the 20 million poorest families … isn’t always capturing all the real poor people.
Source: Financial Digest (financialdigest.net)
Thug nation
Lord, have Mercy! Christ, have Mercy! Lord, have Mercy!
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »
Source: The Straits Times - 🏆 8. / 63 Read more »
Source: The Straits Times - 🏆 8. / 63 Read more »
Source: The Straits Times - 🏆 8. / 63 Read more »
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »