This has been done with the total approval of foreign governments and multilateral organizations. Singapore has donated rice specifically earmarked for the military. In 1984 Indonesia was awarded the FAO medal in food self sufficiency, while today the food aid pouring in threatens to turn it into a permanent international beggar by bankrupting local agriculture. Economic conditions in Indonesia do not call for food aid. What is needed are economic policies to provide jobs and income so people can have an adequate diet, and buy goods and services to meet other needs.
Agriculture is in trouble in Indonesia, but it is a crisis that is strictly man-made.
A huge dependence on fertilizers and other chemical inputs characteristic of Green Revolution technology resulted in a fragile rural economy that can easily be unraveled by policy decisions -for example, the recent ending of the fertilizer subsidy. Indonesia is not experiencing a classic drought-driven famine. It is experiencing economic collapse. Instead give us education, health care, jobs, and economic revival. By Anuradha Mittal, et al.