National Children's Day celebrated

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)