COMPLETION REPORTThe Japanese Government's Policies For the Elderly Population and the Implementation:
Lessons Learned for Indonesia
Ms. Deshinta Vibriyanti (+2)
Researcher
Research Center for Population,Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI)In general, I concluded that Indonesian government policy for the elderly already had implementatedas was done by the Japanese government, although in different forms and intensities. The proportionof elderly in Indonesia about 8% of the total population (Central Bureau of Statistics- Indonesia,2014) so that the Indonesian government has not yet put the elderly become urgent policy priority. Incontrast, the proportion of elderly in Japan about 25% of the population led to the Japanese
government put the elderly as one of the priorities in the development plan of the country (Ministry ofInternal Affair and Communications, 2014).
The current official definition of aged in Japan is aged 65 years or older, and this segment of thepopulation has increased recently becomes around 31.90 million (Ministry of Internal Affair andCommunications, 2014). These population dynamics will result in soaring health care costs, shrinking
work forces, and possible collapsing pension programs. The Japanese government aware of theexpected impact of aging on expenditure and fiscal pressures taking into account the current
configuration of age-related policies. Therefore, Japanese government make several policies that
arranged to the national and the local government.
The one of local government in Japan which very concerned about the elderly is the Sendai City
(Tohoku Region). The areas have become leading places of super-aging of population, since the Great
East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent nuclear power plant accident in 2011. In solving issues ofthe super-aged society in the disaster-afflicted areas, extensive consideration should be given to theestablishment of a society with the elderly people as standards. Those five aspects are residency(housing and living environment), movements (mobility and system of transportation), food (dietaryhabit), connections with society (employment and inclusion in local activities), and health andlongevity (livelihood support and preventive care to be self-reliant, and regional medical care). In sodoing, it is important to maximize the use of ICT in every aspect.
Meanwhile, elderly are defined chronologically as those aged 60 years and over in Indonesia. Thisdefinition was endorsed by the Second World Assembly on Ageing (Madrid, 2002) as a standard. But
it is actually contradicted by the labor law which states that the productive age range is 15-64 years.
The Indonesian government's policy has not been a detailed plan for aged security protection scheme.
So that makes elderly’s life become unguaranteed. As a developing country, the budget limitation is aclassic problem that becomes a barrier in determining policy priorities, especially for the elderly.
Nevertheless, several policies for elderly was made by Indonesian government such as providing
economic security, strengthening health care, and improving social support. However, the lesswillingness of local government for overseeing the elderly problems and equitable access remains abottleneck in carrying out policy. The Indonesian government considered the problems of the elderly
population is still in family domain so that the policies are still partial and not integrated in the masterplan policies of the country.

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