They are inheritors of the earth, the apples of our eye, and our hopes for tomorrow. About one-third of Indonesians are children. Yet only in the past few years have we begun to give them their due respect.
That “respect” goes further than the simple acknowledgement of cuddly love towards the cute “little people” who make our families worth having.
Fundamental “respect” means that parents don’t necessarily have a right to slap their children just because they birthed and fed them.
“Respect” means putting money where our slogans are, by investing in decent education and healthcare for the nation’s most vulnerable group.
“Respect” means we do these things not out of compassion, but because we recognize these things as inherent rights of children — all children.
This country has sufficient tools for such purposes. Law No. 23/2002 clearly defines the protection children warrant. Indonesia also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, more than two decades ago.
But still we find that children are rarely placed at the center of the blueprint for national development.
That is not to say much has not been achieved to protect chil-dren. But for every success story there are deeper challenges.
While Unicef notes that numbers of measles-related deaths have declined by 90 percent since 2000, one-quarter of children under five are malnourished and one-third of all babies are born without the help of a trained healthcare worker.
We celebrate the fact Indonesia has been polio-free four years and that, nationally, primary school enrolment is now at a high. Nevertheless, growing disparities are glaring as only one-quarter of children in Papua are fully immunized before their first birthday.
We are confident that in a positive-growth environment and with the right development priorities, all these challenges can be met.
What is not so easy to accomplish is to educate, enlighten and change mindsets that regard children as helpless objects with which we can do as we please. In other words, this nation is still poisoned with attitudes that permit the abuse and exploitation of our young.
In these areas Indonesia is less well equipped.
Despite the good work of the National Commission for Child Protection, there is a continued absence of a functioning information system to protect children. Laws that provide juvenile justice are significantly lacking.
It is appropriate we recognize that commission member Seto Mulyadi has raised this issue further in the lead-up to today’s National Children’s Day.
“My hope is that there will be no more reports of mothers torturing children, or of teachers inflicting physical punishment in the name of education,” he said.
Beyond the choreographed dramatics of today’s ceremony, which will be attended by the President, we hope it truly creates an impulse to rear children as equals and, ultimately, responsible citizens.
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