Protecting local children's rights still a distant dream<\/p>\n
By Ida Indawati Khouw and Primastuti Handayani<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Two girls living hundreds of kilometers apart
\n-- Lili in Jakarta and Ani in Ungaran, Central Java -- had their
\nworld shattered one day when their parents told them they had to
\nstop going to school.<\/p>\n
Most parents are now aware that education is among a child's
\nbasic rights, thanks to years of government campaigning. But
\nLili and Ani are among the many children who will see their
\nschool days come to an end as more and more parents find it hard
\nenough to feed their offspring, let alone educate them.<\/p>\n
Lili, who lives in a poor area of the otherwise wealthy
\nMenteng in Central Jakarta, was aware of the difficulties which
\nher mother, a housemaid, and her father, a taxi-driver, had in
\npaying her high school fees of Rp 230,000 (US$15.3) this year.
\nBut the news still came as a blow.<\/p>\n
\"What will I do now,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Her mother, Nuriah, who earns Rp 125,000 a month, said that
\nlife for their family had been even harder in the last three
\nmonths because her husband was earning less than normal.<\/p>\n
\"Less people take taxis now. If he earns Rp 10,000 it has been
\nquite a good day. Sometimes he only brings home Rp 6,000 after
\nworking for the whole day.\"<\/p>\n
\"Feeding five children is very difficult. I asked Lili to stop
\ngoing to school because I would prefer to use our limited income
\nto buy food rather than to finance my children's education,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
However, she added that Lili did not want to become like her
\nolder two sisters, whom she said were \"doing nothing\" after
\ngraduating only from elementary school.<\/p>\n
Nuriah said if food prices continued to rise then she might
\nalso have to ask Lili's younger brother to stop studying.<\/p>\n
Ani, a 13-year-old girl from a kampong in Ungaran, Central
\nJava, could only cry when people asked her if she had been
\npromoted to the second year of junior high school. Just one month
\nbefore her final exam, Ani's parents asked her to stop going to
\nschool because they could no longer pay for her transport.<\/p>\n
Ani's school was about nine kilometers from her house and
\nevery day she had to pay Rp 3,000 for a motorcycle taxi to the
\nmain road before catching a public bus.<\/p>\n
Ani's mother Wagiyem said that her husband had lost his job as
\na carpenter with a small furniture company in February and they
\ndepended entirely on her income as a babysitter in the
\nneighborhood to survive.<\/p>\n
\"What can I say? We can't pay for her transport anymore. We
\nprefer to use the money to eat,\" she said with tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n
Wagiyem, who also used to work as a maid, said her former
\nemployee had provided Rp 30,000 to pay for Ani's school fees.<\/p>\n
\"She (my former employee) was very angry and said that I
\nshould have asked for more money (so that Ani could continue
\nschool). But I was too ashamed ...,\" said the mother of two.<\/p>\n
Ani's father suggested that she seek work in a factory, but
\nwith so many people losing their jobs there was not much hope of
\nsuccess.<\/p>\n
Wagiyem said she did not want Ani to become a maid like
\nherself. \"I really wanted her to have a better life than mine,
\nbut I never thought that our life could turn upside down like
\nthis.\"<\/p>\n
Children from middle-class families have also had their
\ntroubles.<\/p>\n
Four-year-old Titi, whose mother works for an insurance firm,
\ncomplained when she was given different tasting milk recently.<\/p>\n
Her mother, Avi, confided that she was forced to change Titi's
\nmilk because the price of her favored variety had doubled.<\/p>\n
\"I had to trick her using the old can with the new milk powder
\nin it. It's really hard for us to buy the one she likes best,
\nbesides she's just had a baby sister,\" Avi said.<\/p>\n
Avi and her husband Yanto, also an insurance company employee,
\nused to spend about Rp 300,000 each month on milk, but must now
\nspend Rp 500,000 on one child only.<\/p>\n
\"What can I say. Cheaper milk tastes different, but as long as
\nmy children can drink it, it's OK,\" Avi said.<\/p>\n
Fear<\/p>\n
In another middle class family the children are not
\ncomplaining about milk. William, 10, and Joshua, 9, whose parents
\nown a grocery in Karang Sembung, 30 kilometers from Cirebon in
\nWest Java, keep asking if they are safe.<\/p>\n
In February the small town was hit by riots sparked off by
\nhigh food prices and their shop and almost all their belongings
\nwere stolen by looters. The family lost their furniture, TV, a
\nmotorbike. Even the children's school uniforms were taken.<\/p>\n
Their father, Budianto Dhanisworo, who is a Chinese-
\nIndonesian, said that his sons had lived in fear ever since.<\/p>\n
Sometimes they become suspicious if stared at, he explained.
\n\"They were very afraid when their mother was late coming home the
\nother day.\"<\/p>\n
\"I am worried that they have been psychologically disturbed.
\nThey should not suffer from such fears. Sometimes they ask me
\nwhether people will hurt them again in the future, a question
\nwhich I cannot answer,\" he said.<\/p>\n
From their hiding place, William and Joshua witnessed the
\nlooting of all their possessions, including their favorite toys.<\/p>\n
But thanks to the support of their relatives, the two children
\nhave been able to continue at school and the family business is
\nslowly being rebuilt. However, for safety reasons the family has
\nmoved to Budi's parent's home in Cirebon.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/protecting-local-childrens-rights-still-a-distant-dream-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}