'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.