Peace Without Poison

to 2.5 women could not have been accomplished through legitimate means since thecontraceptive prevalence rate was at most 50% and the BKKBN also refrained from sterilizationsand abortions in order not to offend religious segments of the population.Considering Indonesia’s enormous population, being the fourth most populous country in theworld, and that its people are spread across 17,000 islands, Suharto’s accomplishment isremarkable and the country has been rewarded with a rising GDP.In the nineties, Indonesia adopted western methods of covert depopulation, namely bottled water,beverages and food adulterated with endocrine disruptors, which is why despite a weakening ofthe national family planning program and underfunding the total fertility rate has remainedunchanged at 2.5 children per woman.It is encouraging and praiseworthy that in January 2014, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonodecided to revive the nation’s legitimate family planning program and to supply contraceptivesfree of charge to all Indonesians as part of the country’s universal health coverage so as toachieve replacement level fertility by 2025. To this end, President Yudhoyono quadrupled thecountry’s allocation for family planning from $65 to $264 and has boosted health worker trainingin the 23,500 family planning clinics across the country. If this commitment also includes ashutdown of endocrine disruptors then Indonesia is truly on the right path and can serve as amodel for the world to follow.In October 2014, Joko Widodo became the country’s new president and this marks a new style ofpolitics for Indonesia. Let us all hope that it also marks an end to covert depopulation measures.Indonesia is in stage three of the demographic transition.355 | P a g e