“Our Children is Our Future” Launched to Preserve the Balinese Culture

Bali’s total population at the end of 2010 stood at 3.89 million. The increase number of population has been related to the increase number of immigrants living in Bali. Deaths from traffic accidents have increased in recent years, making road wrecks Bali’s No. 3 leading cause of death, according to an official. Bali’s dramatic increase of HIV/AIDS prevalence made the island become the 2nd highest prevalence in Indonesia. There are on average 100 suicides in Bali each year, one of the highest rates in Indonesia. Unfortunately government program for family planning in Bali has been successfully made married Balinese women have an average of 2.1 children in accordance with the national target for 2015,

“I am afraid with the mortality rate in Bali increase rapidly than the baby that produce by the Balinese women will soon or later vanish the culture. Bali will be only a name for an island with no native people to preserve the culture”, said Professor Luh Ketut Suryani as she launched the “Our Children is Our Future” program to encounter Family Planning in Bali that restricted the people to have only 2 children. She also concern about the ability of the local government to protect immigrant fluctuation living in Bali. Bali’s population only 1,9 percent among 250 million Indonesia’s majority Muslim population.

“Every single death in the society will reduce the number of Bali’s population, and for that reason we need to call the Balinese women, if you are clever, have time for children and love children, please make children as many as you can, because our nation need good quality children”, add Professor Suryani during her visit to the community to raise an awareness about the dangerous of family planning program. In 2010, the total number of people killed in accidents was 606, with 1,370 severely injured and 2,448 suffering minor injuries. Traffic accidents in Bali currently kill more people than cancer, which was ranked fourth, according to the agency. One of the key element in the program is education to make the Balinese children able to compete with outsider and sustain the culture at all levels of society.