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n Cinere, Depok, West Java, there stands a spacious 6,000m2 building that is home to more than 60 seniors. The building'€™s many windows let in warm sunlight and a soft breeze that cools Depok'€™s hot weather, allowing residents of the home to chat with each other comfortably while eating their midday snacks on large couches in the common room.

The AUSSI Kusuma Lestari Retirement Home is not what one would typically imagine a Indonesian senior housing complex would look like. Indeed, the building and its facilities look more like vacation villas.

The AUSSI Kusuma Lestari Retirement Home is just one among many other privately run retirement homes in the Greater Jakarta that work to counteract the negative stigma that is often attached to senior housing as dull and poorly run institutions.

In Indonesia, it is considered taboo if families allow their elders to live in retirement homes. This taboo comes from the assumption that neglectful children forcibly place their parents in retirement housing due to their unwillingness to take care of them in the midst of their busy schedules.

However, Herman Gozali, an 83-year-old resident of the AUSSI Kusuma Lestari Retirement Home, said that this was nowhere close to the reason why he has lived in a retirement home for the past six years.

'€œBoth my children who work abroad offered me the option to live with them, all expenses paid. But some of my cousins live here in AUSSI, and so do my most cherished friends, so I wanted to be in a place where I could be close to them,'€ Herman also pointed out that he is not deprived of an active social life just because he lives in a retirement home.

He still occasionally goes out to eat with old friends and family members, and even travels abroad several times a year.

Some of AUSSI Kusuma Lestari Retirement Home'€™s facilities include an all purpose entertainment center, a medical room and even a hair salon. A standard VIP room costs Rp 5.5 million (US$392) per month, and a VVIP two-bedroom space can cost up to Rp 20 million per month.

Another well-known private retirement home in Greater Jakarta is Sasana Tresna Werdha, or more commonly known as Griya Aster. This open-air senior housing in Cibubur, Jakarta, was built by the Karya Bhakti RIA Pembangunan Company.

The retirement home holds routine daily activities to keep its senior residents active and social. Some of these activities include fish farming and gardening in the large back garden, flower arranging and even calisthenics.

Griya Aster has a room capacity of 77, with a single room costing Rp 6.5 million per month. Much like the AUSSI Retirement Home, this price is all-inclusive: food, activities and simple medical procedures are all included within the fee.

Seniors and their families who are interested in the benefits of a private retirement home but are looking for something that is less-permanent can go to The Senior Club Indonesia in Pantai Indah Kapuk, North Jakarta.

Sani Aurora, an administrator at The Senior Club, said that the facility was a country club exclusive to seniors, with most of the members in their 70s and 80s.

With a monthly fee of Rp 2.25 million, members are free to take advantage of all the facilities in the club'€™s building every weekday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

'€œIt'€™s more important than ever at their age to socialize. They should not waste their golden years alone at home, they should go out with friends and have fun.'€