Wagiri Hadi Mulyono is 71 years old and frequents the park in Kramat Pela, South Jakarta, at least four times a week, sometimes even seven days a week if he has nothing else to do.

“I have to sweat every day. I bike my way here and then go around [the jogging track] about two or three times. Once I break a sweat, I rest, play at the swing set and talk to my friends for about an hour before I head home,” Wagiri said on Saturday.

The jogging track Wagiri referred to is among several facilities elderly visitors like him can enjoy at Langsat Park. The track, 800 meters from end to end, has many benches placed every 100 m or so. The park also has reflexology footpaths made partly protruding stones that are claimed to help with blood circulation.

In addition, the park also has an “active zone”, an outdoor gym for people of all ages, including Wagiri.

Wagiri retired from his job as a private employee around 14 years ago. He said that compared to his friends, he was in much better health and a big part of it was because he remained physically active to this day.

He claimed that his friends were surprised that he was still able to ride his bike to the park.

“I want, in my old days, to always be healthy. If I am healthy, I can do anything, go wherever and whenever,” he said adding that the park has people his age to stay active in a safe outdoor setting.

The same park is also used by 57-year-old Noor Rita Rachman for her weekly aerobics session for a group of around 40 women.

Noor said the event at Langsat Park is held every Saturday, starting at 7 a.m. Members of the group pay a monthly fee of Rp 40,000 (US$2.85) or Rp 50,000, depending on the number of Saturdays the month has — Rp 10,000 for every session.

She said the benefits of routine exercise were evident in herself.

“Yesterday, I went for a medical check-up. I am 57 years old but they say I have [the physique of a] 46-year-old. They thought I was lying,” Noor said, adding that her aerobics community now has around 90 active members.

Langsat Park is not the only taman lansia (elderly-friendly park) in Jakarta. Amid a scarcity of available land, the administration aims to provide more accessible public spaces for all residents, including senior citizens.

Started by the administration of former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, the city is focusing on building these elderly-friendly parks in areas with a growing aging population.

Another park is Lansia Buni Park in Jagakarasa district, South Jakarta, where aerobics classes for the elderly are offered every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and attract dozens of participants living in the surrounding area.

A local security guard said that besides exercising at the park, elderly visitors also participate in health programs launched by community health centers (Puskesmas).

But other parks claiming the taman lansia are not as elderly-friendly.

At the small Lansia Ciracas Park in East Jakarta on Saturday, there were no senior citizens in sight. There were, however, many children playing at the playground.

Nor were there any elderly in Lansia Penggilingan in East Jakarta when The Jakarta Post visited the park on Saturday morning.

Only a handful of people were seen chatting and children playing in the playground. Visitors were mostly teenagers and parents who had brought their children to enjoy some outdoor play.

The park is green with numerous trees, bushes and small plants scattered around. It has a single playground with a simple climbing frame for children. As for the adults, they can sit on metallic benches scattered around the park.

Data from the Health Ministry in 2017 showed that Indonesia had around 23 million senior citizens, people above 60 years old, or 9 percent of its total population.

University of Indonesia (UI) sociologist Daisy Indira Yasmine said the administration needed to come up with more than just parks if it intended to empower its elderly residents.

“A park functions [as a tool] for seniors’ sociocultural activities. What is important is not just the availability of space, but also activities that are suitable for their age and physicality. We need to reactivate the function of neighborhood [RT] and community units [RW],” Daisy told the Post on Saturday.

Daisy added that any type of development should fulfill the needs of residents and boost their social well-being. In this case, she said, parks could serve as a space that brought people together for gatherings, exercises, workshops or choir groups.

“The problem in the context of the elders’ age group is that they feel their lives are no longer meaningful, that they no longer have a function in society. The government and all of us as residents [should concern ourselves] with how these senior citizens can still play a role inside the community,” Daisy said.

Besides providing facilities such as parks, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan also launched a card for poor elderly Jakartans in January 2018, which gives recipients whose data has been verified social funds of up to Rp 600,000 per month. More than 40,000 elderly people have registered for the program so far this year. (ydp/hpw)

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