Better care for retirees needed, expert says
Better care for retirees needed, expert says
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
A retired employee from the state oil and gas company PT
Pertamina was found dead in his bed on Wednesday by police after
neighbors complained of a terrible odor coming from the house in
Jatiasih, Bekasi.
Cipto Barus was 56. The police have initially put the cause of
death as illness.
On Tuesday, another man, who lived alone in a rented house in
East Bekasi, Binsar Hutagalung, 55, was found dead on his bed by
a neighbor.
The two had similar circumstances. Both lived alone in their
retirement without relatives, and neither apparently socialized
much with neighbors.
Living alone in the city is often unavoidable, says
sociologist Ida Ruwaida Noor from the University of Indonesia,
but the community and the city administration should pay more
attention to the needs of lonely retirees.
"The fact is, the population of elderly people is increasing
since life expectancy in Indonesia has increased to well over 64
years, from 43 back in the 1960s," she told The Jakarta Post on
Thursday.
At the same time, she added, the definition of family living
in large cities was also changing, from the traditional extended
family to a nuclear family. On top of that, social interaction in
many urban housing complexes has become rarer.
"Lots of urban people don't know their neighbors," she added.
As a consequence, some elderly folk are unable rely on their
children or neighbors anymore.
Ida acknowledged that the idea of sending elderly relatives to
nursing homes was still not socially acceptable in this culture.
"But, we should be more realistic. In nursing homes, if they
are managed well, the people can have what their children are
unable to give: social activities with people of similar ages who
understand them," she said.
Senior citizens from higher income brackets, are able to join
or form social or sports clubs with groups of people similar to
them who will look out for their interests.
"For example, there are some elderly clubs in Jakarta, in
which the members meet regularly to do things together, such as
playing cards, making crafts or reading books," Ida said.
Such clubs were important for them because they need useful
activities to fill their post-productive period.
"Other countries provide certain jobs -- like tending to toll
road posts -- exclusively for elderly citizens," she said, adding
that such a policy was not feasible in Indonesia, where tens of
millions of people at their productive age cannot find jobs.
"But we need to start doing things to give retirees a better
life before it becomes a difficult problem to solve," she said.