Whatever parameters of life you set, the goals of development lead to three main points, namely poverty alleviation, unemployment reduction and preservation of natural resources. Natural resource is expected to be preserved because natural resource supports the necessities of human life.
This was conveyed by West Java Governor, Ahmad Heryawan, popularly known as Aher, while giving a public lecture at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UGM, Monday (25/4). The theme of the public lecture delivered was Bureaucracy Reform to Support West Java Development “Honesty in High Quality and Accountable Service.”
"We have to acknowledge that natural resources from food, clothing, to house, support our needs. So, imagine if nature is damaged, it certainly can no longer supply the needs of our life. Therefore, we need to preserve our natural resources," he said.
He welcomed well the presence of the theory of the green economy (environmental economy). The approach of this theory is to manipulate human development without doing damage to the natural environment in the slightest.
"This approach is very different to the previous approach. In the old economic theories, damage being done to natural resources was seen as reasonable as this was for the sake of development. This kind of thought is certainly very dangerous," Aher said.
Despite having limited paddy field areas, West Java is the biggest food distributor. West Java has only 925 hectares of rice field, while Central Java has 1.1 million hectares and East Java 1.2 million hectares.
"But because of the high productivity per hectare, West Java is still the biggest rice producer in Indonesia," he said.
Aher believes education makes an impact on people's welfare. He presented the data from the UNESCO that education influences 0.94 to prosperity and purchasing power.
Significantly, the education effect on one's purchasing power and welfare of a person is over 94 percent. This is very significant with the emergence of a new middle class in Indonesia.
"The emergence of a new middle class is due to education. As education has not been developed, the middle class is not growing rapidly, but as education rapidly grows, so does the middle class," he added.
After the public lecture, Aher took the time to meet the UGM Rector, Prof. Ir. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., Ph.D. During the meeting they discussed some of the problems faced by West Java, from intolerance, management of water, to trash. On that occasion, Aher also highlighted the dissipation which is still often the case in meetings and business travel of officials at provincial and regional levels.