Freeing up services: Delayed, not canceled

OPINION & EDITORIAL – The Jakarta Post, 24 September 2003

Yanuar Nugroho

Rejoicing and lamentation greeted the collapse of the world trade talks in Cancun last week. Those who lamented represented the developed countries, which have had their pursuit of profit slowed down. Those celebrating included representatives of developing countries, which prematurely thought that it was a victory of the poor world against large corporations.

Defending global essentials: Notes from Kyoto

The Jakarta Post, Tuesday, 1 April 2003, OPINION & EDITORIAL
Yanuar Nugroho

While 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and almost 2.4 billion do not have adequate sanitation, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), only 1.6 percent of development assistance is spent on providing water and sanitation services. Over 2.3 billion people suffer from water-related diseases, and it is the leading cause of death in the world.

Profit amidst misery: Water is not a commodity

Opinion and Editorial – The Jakarta Post January 24, 2003

Yanuar Nugroho
The bill on water resources management may be ratified at any time this year. It involves plans for total restructuring of water management — the country’s water sector will be managed according to the market mechanism and there will be wide opportunities for private sector involvement in the water-based business. Precisely, it is all about privatization of water resources.

Challenges in public services delivery

The Jakarta Post, Year-end Edition, 30 December 2002

by Yanuar Nugroho

Clean water, health care and access to energy are the three most essential of basic human needs, with education perhaps the fourth. All people are entitled to these things. Yet the reality is completely different, with people around the world having less and less access to what are basic human needs.

According to the UN, there are 1.2 billion people worldwide who live on less than US$1 a day, 113 million children who do not attend school, 11 million young children who die every year and more than one billion people who still lack access to safe drinking water (UNDP, 2002).

Privatizing public goods: Our lives up for sale

THE JAKARTA POST – Opinion & Editorial, Monday, 15 July 2002

by Yanuar Nugroho

Beware. In the coming years, we in Indonesia may have to pay more not only for our drinking water, but also for bathing and watering flowers at home. We may also have to pay for permission to dig a well in our backyards.

Worse, farmers and villagers may no longer be able to access water from rivers or springs, for corporations will already have been given the right to access all water resources.