MPR Deputy Speaker Calls for Stronger Law Enforcement to Break Chain of Child Abuse Perpetrators

Wakil Ketua MPR RI Lestari Moerdijat has stated that improvements are still needed in handling child abuse cases from various aspects. This begins with the frequent neglect of mental recovery due to unequal access and inadequate service quality, which is often concentrated in a few major cities. “Another issue is that legal action against perpetrators has not been able to fully break the chain of violence,” said Rerie, as she is familiarly known, during an online Denpasar 12 Forum discussion on Wednesday (8/7). She added that cooperation is needed from all parties, from the central government to the community. The high number of child abuse cases cannot possibly be resolved by the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection alone. Therefore, building a multi-stakeholder ecosystem is the right path. Data from the Online Information System for the Protection of Women and Children (SIMFONI PPA) recorded around 11,900 cases in 2021. This figure rose to 19,628 cases in 2024, a significant increase of over 10 percent. “What must be observed is that this situation demands critical proof between the actual increase in acts of violence and the need to realise that this is an emergency,” she said. Rerie emphasised that all regulations, from Law Number 12 of 2022 on Sexual Violence Crimes to other rules, are already in place, but the challenge lies in ensuring that the derivative regulations are properly elaborated. Ahead of National Children’s Day on 23 July 2026, Rerie invited the public to support a joint campaign to protect children, starting from strengthening care and parenting patterns within the smallest unit, the family. “If Indonesian children are protected from now on, we will surely have a superior and competitive generation,” she concluded.