TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has stated that a nation's progress can be seen from the health and intelligence levels of its population. According to him, achieving good health for Indonesians ideally requires a minimum monthly income of Rp15 million.
"Now the challenge is how to increase it from Rp5 million to Rp15 million by 2045," he said at a discussion forum on the Prabowo Health Vision Era in Jakarta, today, May 17, 2025.
Budi suggested that salary level can also serve as an indicator of an individual's intelligence and health status. He asserted that individuals earning Rp15 million tend to have better intelligence and health compared to those earning R 5 million. "If they are not healthy and smart, it's unlikely they would earn fifteen million; it would be five million," he explained.
However, Budi clarified that increasing people's salaries is not within the purview of his ministry. The Health Ministry, he stated, can only contribute through health education initiatives, such as promoting healthy lifestyles to the public.
He cited an example of a current health promotion effort, which encourages people to monitor their body mass index (BMI), ideally keeping it below 24. Beyond this threshold, Budi explained, it is highly probable that a person has excessive fat deposits or visceral fat. "And this leads to many diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure, which are the primary causes of death among Indonesians," he said.
Budi urged the public to start paying attention to their body weight. He offered a simple method: regularly measuring waist circumference using their trouser size as a guide. "Instead of buying a scale which costs Rp700,000," he suggested.
Budi's remarks regarding waist circumference were also made during the launch of three new health service programs with Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung at the Rusun Tanah Tinggi low-cost apartments in Johar Baru, Jakarta. At that event, he stated that men who wear size 33 jeans are definitively obese and have a higher risk of premature death.
"Basically, men who buy jeans with a size above 32-33 – what is their jeans size? 34-33 – they are definitely obese. They will meet their God sooner than those who wear a size 32 jeans," Budi said on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
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