T

hirty-seven-year-old Okty Budiati was holding her 11-month-old daughter while sitting on the floor of her rented house in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta.

She held her daughter tightly as she expressed worry over the neighborhood, where she often saw children taking drugs on the streets.

Those concerns deepened when she overheard her next-door neighbor, with whom she shares a wall, yelling and hitting her six-year-old boy. She spoke up only to find herself in an ugly spat with the boy'€™s mother.

The conflict escalated, and the head of the neighborhood unit stepped in to say that one of them had to move out of the neighborhood. She eventually relented and her family recently moved into another rented house, also in Lenteng Agung.

The law on child protection stipulates in Article 72 that society has the right to take measures to protect children. However, no clear guidelines exist on how to proceed if someone finds themselves in a situation like Okty'€™s. Many people choose to stay away, believing that child abuse to be an internal family matter.

'€œI worry about what the children in this neighborhood will grow up to become. This neighborhood is not conducive to the development of children,'€ Okty told The Jakarta Post recently.

Lenteng Agung is an area known for drug dealing, thugs and violence. The police have on multiple occasions arrested residents for dealing drugs to students attending area public high schools as well as a nearby private college.

'€œI have seen children as young as 12 or 13 taking drugs in the streets,'€ the mother of two said.

She added that there were many young parents in the area who were inexperienced and impatient with children, including her next door neighbor. Okty said the mother was becoming frustrated with her son while teaching him the alphabet when she began hitting him.

'€œI'€™m really concerned. I understand that the mother just wants her son to learn, but that'€™s not the way,'€ she said.

Out of concern for the development of area children, Okty said that last year she and her husband established a children'€™s foundation called Kebun Ilalang, or Thatch Garden.

Kebun Ilalang, which is headquartered at Okty'€™s modest house, is open to all neighborhood children

'€œMy husband and I teach various things in Kebun Ilalang, from academic subjects like mathematics and English to non-academic activities like dancing and drama,'€ she said.

Kebun Ilalang handles about three dozen children in the area, including Okty'€™s two children. '€œI just want children to have a place where they can learn and have fun. Maybe I can provide that for them,'€ Okti said.

She added that she still hoped that the city administration or the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) '€” which she had contacted '€” would come to her neighborhood and conduct workshops for both parents and children.

Separately, head of the South Jakarta Social Agency, Abdurrahman Anwar, said that his agency often received similar reports from residents across the municipality. '€œWhen such things happen, we usually send officers to observe the situation to see what we can do to help. Then we conduct family consultations,'€ Abdurrahman told the Post recently.

In the consultation, he said, children and family psychologists help residents find a solution regarding their domestic problems.

'€œIf residents want to report an incident, they can call us at (021) 7394238 or file a report online at selatan.jakarta.go.id. We will do our best to help,'€ Abdurrahman said.