'Children's rights must be upheld'
'Children's rights must be upheld'
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Both the government and the legislature lack the political will
to put forward children's interests, ignoring the importance of
upholding their rights in the country, an expert has said.
Noted child psychologist Seto Mulyadi said on Tuesday that the
government and the legislature had ignored children's rights by
postponing their endorsement of the child protection law.
"We regret the decision to postpone the endorsement as it will
also delay the improvement of child protection in the country,"
Seto said.
He charged that the lack of political will was obvious, with
many child problems -- from prostitution, child laborers and
street children -- having yet to be solved.
The House of Representatives, without adequate explanation,
has postponed its endorsement of the bill. However, when the
House went into recess last week, the bill had still to be
submitted to the plenary session as one article had yet to be
agreed upon.
Separately, child activists said policy makers, the public,
parents, teachers and the media should reflect on what they had
done and had not yet done for children, instead of being carried
away by an insincere celebration of National Children's Day
marked by parties or carnivals.
National Program Coordinator of the International Program on
the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) Pandji Purtanto said the
government ought to be more appreciative of children's needs.
"Sometimes we forget that we treat our children
inconsistently. We attend to just one aspect of their needs but
fail to pay attention to their other needs," he told The Jakarta
Post.
Pandji said the public also needed to evaluate the way it
treated children. "I disagree when children are involved in a
rally at the House of Representatives against the postponement of
the bill's endorsement. This is a new form of exploitation: We
cannot discuss the substance of the child protection bill with
them," he said.
Composer of children's songs AT Mahmud said parents and
teachers were required to allow children to develop so they could
realize their social and academic potential.
"God has given us a brain, conscience and feelings. Children
should excel, not only in math or physics, but also in their
relationships with others so there will be no student brawls," he
said on the sidelines of a seminar on children.
Mahmud said parents and teachers had to develop children's
imagination, emotions, and their social skills because the
children had the right to reach their full potential. However, he
voiced regret over parents who forced children to study all the
time, without giving them enough time to play.
Another speaker in the seminar, head of the University of
Indonesia School of Communication Ade Armando, said the media, in
this case TV stations, should also reflect upon what programs
they offered for children.
"TV stations are responsible for not having a bad influence on
children. They should carefully select what they screen during
family hours (before 9 p.m.) as children, by their very nature,
are quite impressionable," he said.
Ade urged the government to create a legal framework to guide
TV stations in their programming as there was only a slim chance
that they would regulate themselves.
At the National Children's Day celebration at the Indonesia in
Miniature Park (TMII) in East Jakarta, President Megawati
Soekarnoputri shared a light moment with hundreds of children
from different schools, who were aged from four to 11.
Megawati told the children to love the country, be self-
confident, make friends and respect their parents, study hard and
stay away from drugs.
"You should reach for the stars for your ideas and
achievements," the President said.
As she departed, the children waved and cheered her.