Widjojo Nitisastro economist who praised New Order

Elly Burhaini Faizal, the Post of Jakarta, Jakarta | National | Mon October 15, 2012, 4: 49 PM

Her 62nd Birthday, the University of Indonesia's school of economics (UI) acknowledged on Monday, the architect of the Widjojo Nitisastro, the late new order economy, as the "father of the Indonesian demography of ' for his contribution to population surveys in the country.

Widjojo, considered one of the greatest economists of the country of the 20th century, got the recognition for his pioneering work integrating human development with the development of the country.

Subroto, a professor of Economics, said that the Indonesian people through his work, Widjojo had placed in the heart of the development policy in Indonesia.

"In 1970, he accurately predicted that Indonesia a rejuvenation of the workforce in 2020, which would see the rising ratio of people of a productive age to target the country's economy would significantly strengthen cells," the former Minister of mines and energy told a seminar on the demographic bonus on Monday.

The seminar, celebrating the 62nd anniversary of IU's school of economics, was organized by the University Institute for demography in collaboration with the national population and family planning Agency (BKKBN), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Indonesian population coalition and the Bimasena Club.

In 1957 Widjojo first revealed his population projections, including the demographic dividend that Indonesia in 2020-2030, in his book titled "Population Trends would run in Indonesia". This book was borne out of his thesis while pursuing his PhD degree in economics at the University of California, Berkeley in the us. With his fellow Economist, Nathan Keyfitz, Widjojo wrote his second book on population entitled "population and development in Indonesia" in 1964.

Continue to show its concern about the need for demographic studies in Indonesia, Widjojo began with the development of the Institute of demography at IU's school of economics.

"I think we have seen the valuable contributions of Professor Widjojo in the development of the country economy since 1968, where Indonesian people were considered as the center piece of development in the country," said Subroto.

Widjojo, the most influential economist of the country during the Suharto era, died on March 9 in current Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Jakarta at the age of 84 after a fight against a disease.

Several economists of the New Order era Dorodjatun Kuntjoro Jakti, Adrianus, including-Mooy and JB Sumarlin, also participated in the seminar.

According to the BKKBN dependency ratio in Indonesia stood at 86 percent in 1971, which means that in every 100 people in productive age ranging from 15 to 65-year-old there 86 people on non-productive ages, less than 15 and above 65 were.

In 2010 the country's dependency ratio fell to 48 percent. In the period up to 2020-2030, the ratio is estimated at 44 percent, according to many demographers, the country of the lowest level of dependency. (iwa)