The deadly fall of Daniel Yohanes, 4, at a low-cost apartment in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, last Saturday, shows the tenants’ lack of child supervision awareness, child activists said Tuesday.
Daniel fell to his death from the fourth floor while playing on a sofa, positioned against a 1 meter-high safety railing.
He was reportedly pushed by a friend.
“Why was there no adult when the accident happened?” Hadi Supeno, the chairman of Indonesian Child Protection Commission, asked. “Toddlers do not understand that playing in open areas is dangerous. Someone should have been there to supervise.”
Psychologist Kasandra Putranto agreed that the accident showed Jakartans’ poor awareness of the potential danger of high-rises.
“The lack of safety awareness is a big problem in the city. Most people do not understand that low-cost apartments, with little facilities and low safety standards, are not child-friendly,” she said.
“If this accident happened in a country with high safety standards, the Petamburan apartment management could be sued. However, in Jakarta, it can argue tenants get what they pay for,” she said.
Hadi said that since children living in low-cost apartments were more vulnerable to danger, adults must join forces to keep their children safe.
“For example, if a mother is unable to supervise her children while they play, she should ask her neighbors to babysit,” he added.
Hadi also said that low-cost apartment managements should also implement strategies to ensure their apartments were child safe.
“They should construct high safety railings or construct stairs that are suitable for children,” he said.
Following the toddler’s death, the management of the Petamburan apartment no longer allows residents to place furniture on balconies.
Otong, tenant, said that many residents positioned chairs against the terrace’s safety railing.
“People do this to observe city views,” he said.
“The building management recently told tenants to take chairs away.
“Some men began taking them away today,” Otong said.
The incident might have raised concerns among tenants of the Petamburan apartments, but in other low-cost apartments, most tenants seemed indifferent.
At a visit to the Kebon Kacang apartments, also in Central Jakarta, The Jakarta Post observed that
furniture such as chairs and tables were placed in locations near safety railings.
Some children were seen playing on the second floor without being supervised.
Era, who lives on the ground floor, said she had heard about the toddler accident.
“That type of accident has not happened here.
“Therefore it is safer here,” said the mother of two children.
In October 2009, there was another case of a fatal fall involving a toddler.
Sultan, a four-year-old boy, fell through a window on the sixth floor of an upmarket apartment when he was left unsupervised. (mrs)
