W

ithin the first three days of the official campaign period, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) has reported rampant abuse of children by political parties.

In its report, which was submitted to the Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) on Wednesday, the KPAI found as many as 87 cases of children participating in the campaign activities of all 12 political parties contesting the legislative election.

'€œAccording to our findings, two of the biggest violations was the mobilization of children and the use of children to distribute campaign materials,'€ KPAI commissioner Rita Pranawati told a press conference at the Bawaslu'€™s headquarters in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

The report found that the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) was the party with the most reported cases, with 14 cases, followed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with 10 cases.

The next on the list are the Golkar Party, the Hanura Party and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), all with eight cases, while the Nasdem Party was reported to have committed seven offenses on its campaign trail.

The rest of the list includes the Democratic Party, the Gerindra Party and the United Development Party (PPP) with six cases, followed by the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) with five cases and the Crescent Star Party (PBB) with four cases.

KPAI chairman Asrorun Ni'€™am Sholeh said that the violations happened despite warnings from the commission.

'€œWe have tried to prevent [the violations] from June last year,'€ he said.

According to the report, 15 different kinds of violations happened within the first three days of the official campaign period.

Some of the violations were: manipulating the data of underage and unmarried children so that they were eligible to vote, showcasing children on the campaign trail, bringing children or infants to an event in an open arena and provoking children to dislike a particular political party.

Rita cited the PKPI'€™s rally at Gelanggang Remaja in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, next to a school.

It was reported that elementary school students attended the rally, which featured dangdut performances. '€œIt clearly disturbed [the students at the school]. They are also preparing for the national exam,'€ she said. '€œThose children could get sick from standing in the heat and lack of toilets.'€

Besides the 87 cases, the Bawaslu itself also received and learned of 35 cases of child exploitation during the first three days of the open campaign period, Bawaslu chairman Muhammad said. '€œSome of them violate the law, but most of the cases involve administrative violations,'€ he said. '€œWe received some reports that said some political parties had prepared gear [such as shirts] for children.'€

According to Muhammad, the Bawaslu will submit its report as well as the KPAI'€™s on administrative violations to the General Elections Commission (KPU) and criminal violations to the police. '€œWe will study the KPAI'€™s report to see whether the cases [it reported] fall into administrative violations or criminal offenses,'€ he said. '€œAt the latest, we will give recommendations [based on the reports]
tomorrow.'€

Should a party be proven guilty of abusing children during its campaign, the party could be disqualified from the election, Muhammad said.

Some of the reported parties have refuted the allegations of deliberate child abuse, saying that they could not control the attendance of children at their campaigns events.

Muhammad said that the reasoning was classic, while Asrorun said that the parties should prevent children from entering areas where campaigning was in progress.

In an unrelated development, some disqualified parties have filed reports with the Bawaslu on the back of the KPU'€™s decision to disqualify nine political parties at the regency and municipal levels and 35 Regional Representatives Council (DPD) candidates for failing to submit their campaign finance reports by the deadline.

Muhammad said that the parties that had submitted the reports were the PBB and the PKPI.

He also reminded other disgruntled parties to submit their reports no later than Wednesday.