T

he Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) has named Jakarta the province with the highest rate of criminal cases involving children, both as victims and perpetrators, in 2015.

In its recently published annual report, the commission recorded 649 legal cases involving minors in Jakarta last year, while West Java and Banten came in second and third place with 391 and 362 cases, respectively.

The figure was collated from reports received by the KPAI throughout the country. After Banten, North Sumatra was in fourth position followed by Lampung, East Nusa Tenggara, East Java, South Sulawesi, East Kalimantan and Bali.

During a press conference announcing the findings of the year-end report, KPAI chairman Asrorun Ni'€™am said that many Jakartans were marginalized and found it difficult to keep up with the fast-paced life in the capital.

'€œPoverty can lead to parents ignoring their children and neglected children are more likely to commit crimes,'€ he said.

According to Asrorun, a lack of mental toughness among Jakarta residents was another contributing factor to the high number of crimes involving children in the capital.

In 2015 the Jakarta Police handled several homicide cases that centered on child protection.

In October, a 9-year-old girl was found dead in a cardboard box in a dump near her house in Kalideres, West Jakarta. A forensics examination found that she had been raped and murdered.

A neighbor of the girl, Agus Darmawan, who was known to be friendly to children and teenagers, was named a suspect weeks later.

In the same month, residents of Jasinga found a dead teenage girl wearing only a skirt and bra in a forest in Bogor, West Java. A month later, the police named one of the teen'€™s relatives a suspect in the rape and murder case.

'€œA lot of people come to Jakarta, however, some of them are stuck in poverty and are vulnerable to becoming perpetrators of crime. Sadly, some of these crimes have targeted children,'€ Asrorun said.

The KPAI also highlighted a rising number of children reported for bullying in schools, from 67 in 2014 to 79 in 2014. The number of reported student brawls more than doubled to 103 in 2015 from 46 in 2014.

KPAI deputy chairman Susanto said that the commission was still paying attention to street brawls and bullying among students as this negative aspect of school life in the country remained a serious problem.

According to him, unlike crimes against children, bullying is mostly committed by children from privileged families as a way to achieve personal recognition.

'€œThe alarming fact is that students have started to believe that bullying is nothing unusual and victim have started to accept it. This is wrong. Teachers and principals must do something to stop this perspective from spreading,'€ he said.

However, the number of children who committed physical violence outside schools decreased in 2015 to 76 from 105 in 2014. The number of children reported to have verbally abused their peers, by making threats and intimidating others for example, decreased to 16 in 2015 from 27 in 2014.

'€œA long history of rivalry between certain schools is among the primary reasons students are involved in street brawls with other school students,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.