Extreme poverty can still be found everywhere in this country. Children who suffer from malnutrition seem to be commonplace, while our politicians and the elite busy themselves grappling for power, often in the name of the poor. The story of Diana, the mother of three toddlers hopefully touches our conscience. But we should do more than just say: "What a shame!"
Three toddlers aged between nine months and three years old were abandoned by their mother, Diana, in a locked house without adequate food. The exhausted toddlers, who resorted to eating banana peels to survive, were saved by neighbors after days locked in the house.
Many of us immediately point the finger at the mother and her jobless husband as we look for someone to blame for the shocking incident. But is it fair to lump all the blame on the children's desperate parents? Are they really such cruel people, who would abandon their children without any reason?
"I was trying to make money because my husband could not provide for us," Diana, 23, was quoted as saying by the police. She left her children at her rented house in Tangerang, Banten, on Jan. 25. She was arrested by police when she returned to the house a week after her children had been sent to an orphanage.
The incident is not the first of its kind. A couple in Depok, West Java, also abandoned their four children aged between eight months and eight years old in a rented house citing similar reasons last December. Another shocking crime against children that is currently in the public spotlight is the sadistic murders of at least 14 children by an alleged pedophile, whose case under police investigation.
These incidents should serve as a wake up call to anybody concerned with the safety of our children and our poor track record at keeping them secure. According to Arist Merdeka Sirait of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), last year there were 38 children who suffered similar cases of neglect in Jakarta alone. In most cases it is the crippling poverty that force parents to leave their children alone and hungry.
What we as a society can learn from incidents such as these is that, in most cases, it is not only the parents who are to blame. What is most important is how we can find a way to stop it from happening again in the future.
Currently, the focus of government and non-government child protection policies is the plight of street children. It is a positive step because they are the country's most desperate children, who face the highest levels of risk of abuse at the hands of criminals and sexual predators. As such, the government and other relevant organizations must work diligently to improve their welfare.
However, the cases above illustrate that even children who live with their parents can become victims of neglect. Therefore, there must be a mechanism for the state to take children from parents who are not fit to care for them, either amicably or forcefully.
Blaming the government is very easy. But as residents of this city and this country, we could do more than just point the finger at the government. A small gesture of help can mean a lot to a desperate mother and her starving child.
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