National Children's Day celebrated

JAKARTA (JP): Nearly 10,000 children from Jakarta and surrounding towns gathered at the Cibubur camping ground yesterday to mark National Children's Day.

After the usual rhetoric from officials presiding at the opening ceremony, the rest of the day was filled with fun games, competitions and entertainment befitting the occasion.

There was a marching band, rebana (traditional music with Arabic rhythm), stilts and a procession of huge Betawi dolls, or ondel-ondel.

National Children's Day will reach its climax today when 440 children from all 27 Indonesian provinces, selected because of their school grades, will meet face to face with President Soeharto in a ceremony at the Istana Anak-anak (Children's Palace) at the Indonesia in Miniature Park.

The theme of this year's Children's Day is Saya anak Indonesia ("I am a child of Indonesia"). The sub-theme is Saya anak Indonesia yang cerdas dan kreatif ("I am a child of Indonesia who is intelligent and creative").

The theme of yesterday's gathering at Cibubur was strictly fun, however. The children taking part included 8,800 elementary school pupils, 400 kindergarten children and 600 disabled children.

The games were mostly traditional. While competitive, the games hardly called for creativity. They included gunnysack races, hula-hoop contests and clogs races.

Sarsito N.S., chairman of the organizing committee, said some of the participants were "street children". Differences in the children's circumstances were not apparent at yesterday's gathering.

"You can't tell which kids come from rich families and which ones live on the streets," Sarsito told reporters. "It is their parents who determine the children's social status."

The event, organized by the Tiara Putra Indonesia Foundation, was opened by Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro.

When the minister asked the children what they wanted to be when they grew up, more children raised their hands when asked if they wanted to become president than when asked about other occupations, such as doctor, soldier or business tycoon.

"If all of you want to be president, you should study harder," Wardiman said.

He urged the children to ask their teachers or parents to borrow books for them from the library, saying that children should learn and read more to be smarter.

After the ceremony, Wardiman was asked by journalists about the "street children" and whether they too were entitled to celebrate National Children's Day.

Wardiman responded that the government was concerned about the rights of all children, including poor children.

"We have to accept the reality that there is still a gap between rich children and poor children," he said. "We should be able to overcome the gap," he added.

Wardiman said one way out to reduce the gap would be for wealthier people to help finance the schooling of poor children by providing them with scholarships. (05)