The Social Services Ministry have long fought to amend the 1997 Child Trial Law allowing 8-years-olds to be put on trial and therefore face jail, a senior ministry official said Friday.

"The law that allows 8-year-olds to be put behind bars must be scrapped," said Harry Hikmat, director of children's social services at the ministry.

"We have for long fought for the law to be revised. We hope to raise the age limit from 8 to 15 years old."

Harry said the case of 10 children shoe-shiners currently facing trial for allegedly gambling at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport underlined the importance of special legal treatment for children.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the National Children Day commemoration to be held Wednesday, Harry said his ministry and the National Commission for Child Protection took part in advocacy efforts in the airport case.

"We are hoping the law enforcers to have used their diversion and discretion rights in this case."

Diversion means an out-of-court settlement while discretion means the police' rights to drop the case.

"The children can simply be sent to rehabilitation programs instead of being sent to jail."

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Children Protection secretary general, Arist Merdeka Sirait, said children with their lack of understanding could not be held fully responsible for their actions.

"It's not even clear whether the children were gambling or playing

"Law enforcers in Indonesia have been blindly following the wrong law in cases involving children."

In the airport case, Arist questioned the prosecutors for charging the children using the Criminal Code without considering the Child Trial Law.

"Despite the law being enacted in 1997, there is no special law enforcers for children cases. From what I know, judges for children's cases are appointed by the Supreme Court chief justice but they may not have the knowledge on handling such cases. There are no prosecutors and investigators specializing in children's cases in Indonesia."

Both Arist and Harry urged stakeholders to participate more in child protection efforts.

"Child protection issues are like a seasonal issue in Indonesia. When there is a big case, every one give attentions to children problems," Harry said.

To boost the stakeholders' involvement, the ministry plans to establish the Children's Justice Committee.

The committee, taking examples from overseas practices, usually include law enforcers, government officials, NGOs, child psychologists, and parents. The committee will be designed to review, monitor, and recommend policies regarding legal treatments for children.

Arist said he supported the committee as the existing government agencies had shown little interest in children's issues.

"I am very upset seeing the lack of concern on children's issues by government officials. In the airport case, the Justice and Human Rights Ministry should have helped the children, yet they did not.

"In previous cases regarding children workers, the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry also did nothing. Why must children's cases be handled only by the Social Affairs Ministry and NGOs?"

Harry admited there was a lack of cooperation between government institutions on solving children's problems. (mrs)

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