One day of smiles and fun for street children

JAKARTA (JP): Thursday was a special day for Wawan. He did not have to sing on the street as he usually did at the South Jakarta Manggarai traffic lights.

"I want to stay here for five days," he said, while devouring his fried chicken lunch from a box. Before him was a full day of free games and play at the Taman Ria Senayan playground until 9 p.m.

Wawan was one of 1,250 street children aged between 5 and 18 years old brought by 26 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) under the guidance of the Forum for Indonesian Children Protection (FPAI) and in cooperation with 10 private companies and the National Commission of Child Protection (Komnas PA). The event was held in conjunction with National Children's Day, which fell on July 23 this year. The street children, who were mostly under 10 years old, included street singers, manual workers, scavengers, newspaper vendors and shoe shine workers.

The playground, which is usually frequented by the middle- class, made all its games available to the children. Some children stared blankly at the entrance fees at the front gate.

"Can I really play here for free?" they asked hesitantly to the NGO personnel who accompanied them. The answer was a smile and a nod.

As some children sang on stage, others were quite happy jumping on and off the escalator. The children were free to do whatever they liked. They could play, sing, dance to dangdut music or read poetry.

Seto Mulyadi, head of Komnas PA, said the event was aimed to let the street children take a day off from their working environment.

"We would like them to feel like a child as they are supposed to be, at least for one day," he said.

He added it was also a day for the NGOs to instill in them their rights as children, such as the right to play, to live, to have protection and receive an education.

"Street children are vulnerable to exploitation by many parties so they have to understand their rights," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said he resented the fact that the bill for children rights was put in the drawer for 15 years, although the government ratified the Children's Rights Convention.

A slight incident occurred when the children marched from the Senayan parking lot to the nearby playground. Some refused to join because they saw other children wielding banners saying "Try Soeharto" and "Reject Habibie". The march went on after the banners were tore down and thrown away by the children themselves.

"We just want to have fun, we do not want to have a street rally. We'd rather go to work than stage a protest," said Histam, a street child. (04)