Gray creeping in to RI population

Gray creeping in to RI population

Still a country with one of the youngest populations in the
world, Indonesia is now, inevitably, getting a bit grayer. The
youth of the 1970s and 1980s will be reaching retirement age in
the next 20 years. The Jakarta Post's Maria Endah Hulupi,
Hera Diani and Bruce Emond examine if we are ready for what
lies in store.

JAKARTA (JP): Every day when "Jenny" drives to work in Central
Jakarta, she passes her widowed mother-in-law's home. She says
she feels "guilty" when she does not stop in to visit the woman,
"Betty", who, in her 80s, is physically fit but gradually going
senile.

She is fond of her mother-in-law, and the provision of a
trained nurse, plus daily catered meals, is not a financial
burden on the family because both her and her husband work.

More of a problem is the emotional toll. "I have learned to
pretend that every question she asks is the first time she has
asked it. I might tell her the same story three times in 10
minutes because she forgets she has already asked it .... "

Jenny said the family would put Betty in a home if they
believed she would be happy about it, but they know she would
never accept it. She would see it as "abandonment".

Her experience may be common to many more of us in the coming
years.

With the progress made in national development since Indonesia
became a republic 56 years ago, people are living longer. Average
life expectancy is now about 68 years for both sexes, compared to
45 for men and 48 for women in 1970. There are about 15 million
over-60s in the country, about 8 percent of the more than 200
million population, according to Rozy Munir from the National
Population Agency (Baknas).

That number is projected to jump to 11 percent in the next 20
years.

The implication, according to the former minister of
investment and state enterprises development, is a greater burden
on people of productive age.

He said that right now, every 100 Indonesians in the
productive age group of 15 to 60 years are taking care of 59
others, meaning both the young and the aged.

As a comparison, the ratio in the United States is 100 to 33.

"If we want to reduce the burden on productive age people, we
must have an integrated effort. Beside focusing on how to
anticipate the increasing number of senior citizens, we also have
to reduce the maternity rate," Rozy said.

He acknowledged the country's attention to senior citizens was
still poor.

"Public service facilities have yet to accommodate them, like
public toilets, the streets, public transportation. Geriatricians
are also still very few," Rozy said.

Senior citizens, he said, are the responsibility of both the
state and the family, and the country must look to how other
societies deal with their elderly.

"If we want to put them in a nursing home, we have to prepare
the home so it won't be a place just to eat and sleep. It should
be near nature, because old people want some peace," he said.

Rozy noted that the increased number of senior citizens had
already affected the workforce.

"Many families assign daughters to take care of their parents
or grandparents. Many also hire young women or women
relatives ... That means violating their rights to have careers,
that's discriminative," he said.

A continuing problem is that Indonesians, unlike people in
countries like Japan, do not save for their old age.

Some communities already have initiatives to ensure that their
elderly residents are not left abandoned, such as through fund
gathering in religious and social activities.

Rozy advised the young to start planning ahead so that they
can live to a ripe and comfortable old age.

Baby boomers

It's the baby boomers born in the relative calm of Indonesia
in the 1950s who will be losing their youth in the next few
years. The problem is that traditional care-givers -- the family
-- may not be around to take care of them as Indonesian society
changes.

"Families have become smaller and more mobile to fit the
modern era," said social psychologist Drajat Soemitro from the
University of Indonesia.

Old people may well find themselves home alone, especially
with the flight of young people from rural to urban areas. And in
developed countries with their own increasing aging populations
and declining population sizes, the UN predicts migrant workers
from developing nations will be a hot commodity.

Sociologist Mayling Oey said the country must start
anticipating the effects of the increasing aging population now.

The government, she added, must provide many services for
senior citizens, and it will take enforcement of tax laws to
ensure there is enough money in the budget for their needs.

As for the private sector, Mayling said it had yet to react to
future needs, such as new health facilities and nursing homes.

"They can build more hospitals or produce equipment that will
help senior citizens, like walkers which are now very expensive
and still imported. Young people should start to make new
inventions to help old people."

A geriatrician with the University of Indonesia, Czeresna H.
Soejono, said that although welfare of the elderly is one of the
government's declared three top priorities, little has been done
and no funds have been allocated to improve their welfare.

The first geriatric division was set up at the state-run
University of Indonesia in 1996. It has slowly grown over the
years even without government support. But there is still an
acute lack of professionals; Soejono said there are only six
geriatricians.

He stressed the importance of educational programs, focusing
on health promotion and prevention for elderly people, for
doctors and health practitioners at the community level and
families. He said it was the cheapest and the most practical
program for crisis-stricken Indonesia.

The process toward ideal geriatric services requires years of
development. Britain and the U.S. needed 50 years, while
Australia took 30 years to educate the public on the issue.

"Even now, demands for such services have soared
significantly. We are running out of time and the well-being of
millions of elderly is at stake. Being sick and weak is not a
quality life and we certainly don't want our aging parents to
live that kind of life," he warned.