Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade of the 21st
Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Indonesia.htm
|
|||||||||||
|
CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in Indonesia. Some of these
links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated
or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity
or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Sexual abuse common
among street children Jakarta Post,
Jakarta, 12 June 2007 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/06/12/sexual-abuse-common-among-street-children.html-0 [accessed 30 May
2011] www.asia-pacific-solidarity.net/southeastasia/indonesia/netnews/2007/ind22v11.htm#Sexual%20abuse%20common%20among%20street%20children [accessed 13
December 2016] [scroll down] Amran, Brebes' friend, started living on the streets after his parents divorced and his father remarried without telling him. By the age of eight, Amran had already experienced the hard life of a street child, working as a shoe polisher at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta, where he was also sexually abused. "When I was a shoe polisher one of my consumers sexually abused me and gave me Rp 3,000 (US33 cents)," said Amran, 19, who works odd jobs to make a living.He said at the time he did not understand what had happened to him. "I spent the money to play a pinball machine game," he said. "But as time passed, I learned that the person had treated me badly." He said most of his
friends living on the streets had been sexually abused by adults. "In
fact, some of them make a living out of it," he said. – SCCP Street Children
Need Government Protection Too Richel Dursin,
Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, Jakarta, 13 jul
2000 www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54b/081.html [accessed 30 May
2011] Teguh became a street
singer, beggar, robber, and "joki" or a
driver’s companion on Jakarta's streets where only vehicles with at least
three passengers are allowed to pass. In a day, he earned between 15,000 and
20,000 rupiah, but members of criminal syndicates looted half of his
earnings. ***
ARCHIVES *** For Indonesia’s
street children, coronavirus means more danger COVID-19 has made
life more dangerous for children on the streets who are even more at risk of
being sexually abused. Jessica Washington,
Al Jazeera, 24 Jul 2020 www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/7/24/for-indonesias-street-children-coronavirus-means-more-danger [accessed 8 February
2023] Life has always
been dangerous for children on the streets but the coronavirus pandemic has
highlighted just how vulnerable they are. While the children of Depok can continue to
come to their shelter, in many parts of the country, shelters have closed
because of concerns about COVID-19 and young people have been forced to fend
for themselves. There is no concept
of social distancing. The children have more pressing concerns than the risk
of COVID-19 such as food, water and a safe place to rest. “Living on the streets is not nice, sleeping in front of shops is not nice. If suddenly,
someone offered you access to an apartment’s facilities … who would refuse?”
she said. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor U.S. Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005 www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/indonesia.htm [accessed 13
February 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children work in agriculture and in the rattan and
wood furniture, garment, footwear, food processing, toy, fishing,
construction, and small-scale mining sectors.
Other children work in the informal sector selling newspapers, shining
shoes, scavenging … Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61609.htm [accessed 9 February 2020] CHILDREN
-
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, there were 46,800 street children across 21 provinces.
Substantial numbers of street children
were apparent in Jakarta and the provinces of East Java, West Java, North
Sumatra, and South Sulawesi. Surabaya, in East Java, was home to
approximately 8 thousand street children,
many reportedly susceptible to sexual abuse and violence. Approximately 40
shelters in the province provided services to such children. The Jakarta City
government opened a shelter in 2004 with the capacity for approximately200
children. The government continued to fund other shelters administered by
local NGOs and paid for the education of some street children. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 30 January 2004 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/indonesia2004.html [accessed 13
February 2011] [79] The Committee
welcomes the introduction of the Social Safety Net Program for Street
Children and of the Free Street Children Program of Bandung Raya. It is
nonetheless concerned at the high number of children living on the streets
and at the violence to which they are subject, especially during sweep
operations. Facebook provides
community for Indonesia's street kids Sara Schonhardt, The Christian Science Monitor, November 12,
2010 [accessed 13 November
2010] Facebook and
Indonesia's Internet cafes give Indonesian homeless teenagers a break from
the streets and a chance to feel like a normal teen. The night can be
tough for Indonesia's street children. Competition between gangs can turn
bloody, and sexual abuse is common. Rather than sleep under bridges or fend
off predators, many are finding relief in Facebook. The hours between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. are
strangely busy at Indonesia's Internet cafes, where special packages allow
kids to spend evenings online with a cup of coffee or piece of bread, all for
only $1. The intent is to entice
users during off hours, says Azza Azzahra, an employee at Greenjaya
Internet, where many of his late-night customers are teenage boys. Out & About:
What does the future hold for Jakarta’s street kids? Mathilda Silalahi, The Jakarta Post, 11/09/2010 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/11/09/out-amp-about-what-does-future-hold-jakarta%E2%80%99s-street-kids.html [accessed 9 November
2010] www.pressreader.com/indonesia/the-jakarta-post/20101109/282273841747579 [accessed 13
December 2016] Alif (not his real
name), a nine-year-old boy, ate his lontong sayur (rice cake in coconut milk soup) quickly. Alif then told me that
his mom told him to rent umbrellas to pedestrians caught in the rain. He has
five siblings. He is the oldest and has failed school several times, which
explains why he is still in the second grade at Kebon
Manggis elementary school. He studies hard and recently got good grades. In
fact English and Math have become his favorite subjects. But he doesn’t know
what he wants to be when he grows up. I can relate to why
he is undecided about his future. His mother is self-employed, doing laundry
for others and looking after his siblings. His father is a second-hand goods
vendor under a pedestrian bridge in Kampung Melayu. For Alif, becoming a
doctor is out of reach. Then I looked at
the next child, who ate his meal quickly, sometimes mumbling profanities. He
has so little education and bearing. Harsh city life has taken its toll. I concluded that
there were two kinds of street children: children on the street and children
of the street. Children on the street still have a family, a home and minimal
education but they don’t spend most of their times on the street. Children of
the street, however, are children who left their families behind and live on
the street. Baekuni killed seven boys
or more in Jakarta Jakarta Informer,
Jan 14, 2010 feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?rid=31601349&cat=f9295dc05093c851 [accessed 19
September 2011] Click [here]
to access the article. Its URL is not
displayed because of its length [accessed 13
December 2016] Baekuni, also called Babe
and now 48 years old was arrested last week in East Jakarta after the body of
a nine year old boy was discovered in Cakung. Babe
was a gang leader of street kids and was found suspicious of child
molestation and murder. He admitted that he killed at least 7 kids less than
12 years old. Four of them where
found already. Baekuni admitted that he sodomized
all his victims, sometimes even after he strangled them to death. One of the kids
from his gang was found headless last week at a flood canal construction
project in East Jakarta. Most of the victims were not from his gang. An
official said that Babe, a serial killer and rapist, is not mentally ill. Street kids are a
normal picture in the streets of all the big cities in Indonesia, especially
in Jakarta. They can be found at nearly every traffic light in the city
begging for money. Some of these street-kids are not even four years old. Educating children
in Timika no easy task Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post, Timika,
05/13/2009 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/05/13/educating-children-timika-no-easy-task.html [accessed 30 May
2011] School-aged
children in Timika, Papua, apparently prefer
scavenging for recyclable items, such as used soft drink cans, to attending
school, as they can sell the items and earn money to supplement their
families' income. Their presence is
easily noticeable along the roads in Timika city.
They carry sacks on their backs, filling them with scrap items found in the
city's garbage dumps, drains and canals.
Most of them are elementary school dropouts, something which can be
attributed to the low level of awareness among parents of the importance of
education. Amereyauw expressed grave
concerns over the inferior standard of education in Mimika
for native Papuan children as most of them have dropped out of school and
live on the streets. He said that most of the school-aged children do not
attend school, likely due to their parents' ignorance on the importance of
formal education. As reported
earlier, the Mimika regency administration
announced that it would provide free education from elementary to senior high
school levels this year in a
effort to motivate parents of native Papuans as well as migrants to send
their children to school, without bearing the burden of school fees. Message Bans Giving
Money to Street Children Muh Syaifullah,
Tempo Interactive, Yogyakarta, 28 April, 2009 www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2009/04/28/brk,20090428-173143,uk.html [accessed 30 May
2011] The Yogyakarta
municipality is calling on people not to give money to beggars and street
children. The message written on 16 billboards will be put up on streets
where beggars and street children are normally based. However, Sudarmaji, a street children activist at Klitren Lor, disagreed. “The
message would not do much good because what they need are job opportunities
and training,” he said. Angkot: A cheap tour of
the city's untold stories and unsung heroes Widhyawati Ambara,
Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 04/28/2009 [accessed 30 May
2011] Two little boys,
walking and holding hands, travel from the pavement to the middle of the road.
The younger child seems barely able to walk steadily as he is likely only 2
years old. As the little street singers weave their way through the moving
crowd of vehicles, we inside the angkot hold our
breath, hoping they will safely reach our angkot, where
they will play a brief song for a small amount of money. Once inside, the
older child starts to shake his musical instrument, a mineral water bottle
filled with small pebbles or beans, muttering a song with a melody that
barely resembles the original song. The younger gives each passenger an empty
envelope with a note: "Please spare your money to buy us food and pay
for our school fees." Out of pity, some of us donate Rp
500 or Rp 1000. Once their performance ends, they
jump out of the angkot, again braving the herd of
vehicles. We hold our breath, cursing their parents, if they have them, for
allowing such young boys to wander alone on the streets and beg for money. Ninety Percent of
Homeless Children Go Back on the Streets Ukky Primartantyo,
Tempo Interactive, Surakarta, 14 March, 2009 www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2009/03/14/brk,20090314-164674,uk.html [accessed 30 May
2011] Bina Foundation coordinator, Bakat Muladiyanto,
said only around 10 to 15 percent of homeless children do not return to
the streets after they receive assistance. He said it was
difficult for these children to stay away from the streets because of their
network with other street children. Makassar bans
people from giving money to beggars Andy Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, 04 July 2008 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/07/04/makassar-bans-people-giving-money-beggars.html [accessed 30 May 2011] Makassar mayoralty
in South Sulawesi has issued a local ordinance banning people from giving
money to beggars in a bid to stem the recent sharp increase in beggars in the
city. There are currently 2,600 street
children and beggars in Makassar, up from 870 in 2006. "They enjoy
being street children because they can get money easily by asking passers by," Makassar Mayor Ilham
Arif Siradjuddin said
Wednesday. He said street children
faced high risks, and that they were commonly exploited by adults, including
in some instances their parents, into earning money. "Seeing that the number of beggars had
increased over the years and taking into account the high risks they face,
the mayoralty decided to establish the local ordinance," said Ilham. Under the Makassar
local ordinance, people who give money to beggars face a maximum fine of Rp 1.5 million (US$166.60) or a maximum of three months imprisonment. Fined street
children arrested The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta, 06/18/2008 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/06/18/fined-street-children-arrested.html [accessed 30 May
2011] Sixteen street
children and teenagers were sent to a local social institution in Bogor municipality
on Tuesday because they were unable to pay the Rp
5,000 (53 US cents) fine imposed on them.
Head of Bogor's social policy regulation enforcement division Parid Wahid, said public order
officers arrested 34 street children and beggars including 11 underage
children. Under a bridge
downtown, we learned our math Tifa Asrianti,
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 05/05/2008 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/05/05/under-a-bridge-downtown-we-learned-our-math.html [accessed 30 May
2011] RAY OF LIGHT: Volunteers of Sahabat Anak hold a study session for street children under
Grogol overpass in West Jakarta on Sunday. Most of the children, who had
otherwise dropped out of school, resume their studies after joinning the sessions. Free school offers
hope for Jakarta street children Lenita Sulthani, Reuters, Jakarta, Mar 18, 2008 www.reuters.com/article/2008/03/19/us-indonesia-school-children-idUSJAK11003020080319 [accessed 30 May
2011] Children working as
beggars, food hawkers and garbage collectors are a common sight on the
streets of Jakarta, many earning as little as $1 a day. The children have often been sent out onto
the streets by impoverished parents who can't support their families, and as
a result, are deprived of an education.
At the makeshift school equipped with wooden tables, dozens of child
workers sit on the floor, receiving lessons for two hours in the morning and
another two hours in the afternoon. It
is often tough to get the children to attend classes since many have to work
to help their parents, who are mostly garbage collectors. Anto Baret: Finding strength in numbers Wahyoe Boediwardhana,
The Jakarta Post, Malang, January 29, 2008 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/01/28/anto-baret-finding-strength-numbers.html [accessed 18 January
2017] "The street is
not their home, the street is not their refuge, the
street is their life. They only need a space to survive," said the
musician, who is nicknamed Anto Baret
because he likes wearing berets. Anto is the founder of the Street Musicians Group (KPJ)
in Bulungan, South Jakarta. It all began in 1980 … Indonesia: Media
asked not to overexpose mutilation crimes The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta, 01/26/2008 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/01/25/media-asked-not-overexpose-mutilation-crimes.html?1 [accessed 30 May
2011] Two mutilation crimes
occurred in the Greater Jakarta area last week. Last Thursday, parts of a
young woman's body were found in a hotel room in North Jakarta, while three
days earlier the mutilated body of a boy was found in a box in Bekasi, West
Java. The mass media reported
extensively on five mutilation cases in the Greater Jakarta area last year,
while two mutilation cases were covered in both 2005 and 2006. Three of the nine cases remain unsolved,
with police yet to identify two of the victims. "The victims
are often street children, who usually live in groups. The killers mutilate
the children so other group members won't know about it," he said. Festival brings
children off the streets The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta, December 6, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/festival-brings-children-off-the-streets/ [accessed 18 January
2017] "In the long
term, we aim to get the children off the streets by keeping them busy at the
shelters," he said, adding the festival was also held to develop street
children’s abilities and knowledge in art and technology. Children performed 15 plays, acting out
folk stories from across Indonesia as part of the festival’s focus on
cultural education. Iskandar and many
other street children also had the chance to take free computer and Internet
courses during the festival. "I
want to master the technology even though I realize I’m not as lucky as other
children," Iskandar said. Another
street child, Tri Hariyanti from Rumah Singgah Madani, shared her story on learning how to produce
aluminum kitchenware. "It was
hard in the beginning, but I enjoy it," she said, adding that she felt
lucky to be able to develop new skills. Street kids’ lives
rewritten in recycled paper Agnes Winarti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, November 3, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/street-kids-lives-rewritten-in-recycled-paper/ [accessed 18 January
2017] The gallery is home
to 13 former street children rescued by social worker Dindin
Komarudin, the workshop manager since 2002. "They actually earn less here than the did in the streets, yet they stay here," said Dindin, 36, adding that a child can make Rp 30,000 to Rp 50,000 a day in
the streets, while he can only get Rp 15,000 to Rp 17,500 as a beginner in the workshop. "Money can be plentiful out there, but
in this workshop they get the feeling of security, respect and appreciation
for their work," said Dindin. In the streets, they can only run from one
police raid to the next, and they face exploitation and violence from street
thugs, Dindin said. Indonesians in
Focus: Dindin Komarudin Agnes Winarti, Indonesia in Focus, October 31st, 2007 www.planetmole.org/indonesian-news/indonesians-in-focus-dindin-komarudin.html [accessed 30 May
2011] The problems that street children face are rooted in
poverty and social exclusion, and are not amenable to quick-fix solutions.
People might assume that street children are not suited to working in the
business sector, yet one man holds the belief that going into business will
bring street children long-term benefits.
For the past five years, social worker Dindin Komarudin has been a
four-in-one-figure: a parent, brother, buddy and business partner for street
children. Over 1 million drop
out of North Sumatra schools annually Apriadi Gunawan,
Jakarta Post, Medan, October 1, 2007 www.asia-pacific-solidarity.net/southeastasia/indonesia/netnews/2007/ind37v11.htm #Over%201%20million%20drop%20out%20of%20North%20Sumatra%20schools%20annually [accessed 24
September 2011] "Most of these
students do not want to quit school but poverty and their parents'
encouragement made them have to stop their education," Ahmad told The
Jakarta Post. He said in more urban
areas like Medan and its outskirts, many school dropouts end up homeless and
living and working on the street.
"Currently, there are 4,525 street children across North Sumatra.
Of that figure, some 2,000 of them are in Medan and its outskirts and many
are school dropout." Riska, 11, lives and
works near the Pinang Baris bus terminal in
Medan. She says she has been living on
the streets for two years, earning money by washing the windows of cars
stopped at traffic lights. Riska said she dropped out of school in the fourth grade
because her parents could not afford to pay the fees. "Honestly, I didn't want to become a
street person. I wanted to stay in school. But my parents are poor so here I
am." She said her father was a
construction laborer and her mother earned money by taking in laundry. Increased poverty a
real threat with new bylaw The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta, September 15, 2007 povertynewsblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/increased-poverty-real-threat-with-new.html [accessed 30 May 2011] The new ordinance,
which would replace the 1988 ordinance on public order, bans anyone from
opening businesses on streets, sidewalks, pedestrian bridges and other
communal areas. It would also prohibit
people from donating money to beggars, buskers and street children.
Academics, observers and legal experts have condemned the ordinance,
saying it was "ridiculous" and "inhumane" because it
discriminates some minority groups. 'Ojek' ride can be bit scary but is cheaper and faster Sobrina Rosli,
The Brunei Times, Jakarta, August 19, 2007 www.bt.com.bn/news/2007/08/19/ojek_ride_can_be_bit_scary_but_is_cheaper_and_faster [accessed 30 May
2011] On the motorbike
with a helmet provided by the driver on the way to my destination we were
stopped at a red light at a junction. As we were positioned at the front of
the line, looking around me I observed a group of children each of them
approaching cars and motorbikes asking for money. The eldest girl was no more
than 12 years old whilst the younger boys were between six and seven years of
age. A little tanned skin boy, with a chubby round face, no more than six
years old came and tugged at my pants. Looking at me with teary eyes, scruffy
face and worn out clothing I gave him some money. This was followed by the other
children approaching the bike I was on. Street children in
need of the most help with HIV/AIDS Desy Nurhayati,
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, August 10, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/street-children-in-need-of-the-most-help-with-hivaids/ [accessed 18 January
2017] National Commission
for the Protection of Children secretary-general Ariest
Merdeka Sirait said street children are very
susceptible to HIV/AIDS because many of them are involved in promiscuous
sexual behavior and are injecting drug users.
“The spread of HIV/AIDS among street children should be tackled
immediately, otherwise it will lead to a worse situation,” he told The
Jakarta Post. “The problem is that most of them lack knowledge about
reproductive health and about how to protect themselves from the infection.” He said street children have been excluded
from the government-sponsored program to fight HIV/AIDS cases among high-risk
communities, such as sex workers and drug users. Indonesia gets
failing grade for juvenile justice system Apriadi Gunawan,
The Jakarta Post, Medan, 07/28/2007 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/07/28/indonesia-gets-failing-grade-juvenile-justice-system.html [accessed 30 May
2011] www.mjoni.com/berita/m-joni/indonesia-gets-failing-grade-juvenile-justice-system.html [accessed 13 December
2016] One of the most
well-known recent examples of this was the case of Muhammad "Raju" Azwar, who was tried for assault stemming from a fight
with a schoolmate in Langkat regency, North
Sumatra, after being detained for several months in an adult prison. A UNICEF survey in
2005 found that 3,110 underage children had stood trial and were being
detained in adult prisons. Most of
these children, according to Santi, were the victims of abuse in prison. Street kids take
two days off for fun and learning The Jakarta Post,
Bogor, July 12, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/street-kids-take-two-days-off-for-fun-and-learning/ [accessed 18 January
2017] For most students,
July means a two-week holiday. But for street children it means two days off
from miserable life on Jakarta's streets and a chance to learn tricks that
can keep them alive. A two-day "Lindungi Aku" (Save Me)
jamboree in Taman Buah Mekar
Sari, Bogor, allowed around 600 street children from 16 of the city's
marginalized areas to have some fun and participate in educational activities
at the same time. Jamboree
participants joined a discussion about drugs, sex and sexual abuse. Speakers
from the Love the Children of the Nation Foundation (YCAB) provided the kids
with information about the dangers of drugs and also explained to them their
rights. There are 10
integral stipulations in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, also
known as the Geneva Declaration, on the universal rights of children:
equality, food, normal development, education, protection from exploitation,
a name, relief in times of distress, recreation, health and a nationality. Depok street kids
learn for free Warief Djajanto
Basorie, The Jakarta Post, Depok West Java, 09 July
2007 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/07/09/depok-street-kids-learn-free.html [accessed 30 May
2011] "I opened a warung (roadside eatery) at the terminal. Street kids
gathered. I learned that most of them had stopped out of school, so I opened
a learning center in 2000," said Rohim, an
education graduate of a three-year vocational college. The center is financed by government block
grants and donations amounting to Rp 3-4 million a
month. One grant comes every six months, another is released annually. Rohim's small businesses
like the warung, a print shop and a recycling plant
also help cover costs, the entrepreneurial, one-time student organizer added.
The recycling unit employs local scavengers who are also enrolled the
center's literacy class. Drug Trade An Easy
Trap For Street Children Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 06/13/2007 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2007/06/13/drug-trade-easy-trap-street-children.html-0 [accessed 30 May
2011] streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/06/13/drug-trade-an-easy-trap-for-street-children/ [accessed 13
December 2016] DRUG TRADE AN EASY
TRAP FOR STREET CHILDREN - They live with no roofs over their heads and no
parents to look after them. They have to deal with the toughest experiences
the streets have to offer. And above all that, street children are also
prone to exploitation as drug traffickers, recent research has
revealed. Some 16 percent of street children in Greater Jakarta are or
have been involved in drug trafficking, a study by the International Labor
Organization (ILO) says. Seen but not heard,
life is tough for forgotten kids Prodita Sabarini,
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, May 24, 2007 genenetto.blogspot.com/2007/06/seen-but-not-heard-life-is-tough-for.html [accessed 30 May
2011] Jakarta's traffic
lights inevitably show a bleaker side of the city. As cars slow down at red
lights, little pleading faces emerge at windows asking for money. The time of
day seems to not matter to them. Pass a red light in
the morning, the children are there; in the day time, the weather-beaten
children are there; in the afternoon, as well as the evening, midnight, and
even dawn, the children are still there. From toddlers with their mothers
sitting on the roadside, up to scruffy pubescent teens, the children are a
fixture of traffic lights, public buses and parks. Data from the
Social Affairs Ministry showed the city had some 30,000 street children on
2005. While there has not been another survey since then, volunteer worker Heru Suprapto from the Jakarta
Center for Street Children said the numbers have not gone down. Easing the Burden
on City’s Poor: Makassar, South Sulawesi Andi Hajramurni, Indonesia in Focus, May 24th, 2007 www.planetmole.org/indonesian-news/easing-the-burden-on-citys-poor-makassar-south-sulawesi.html [accessed 30 May
2011] Through its social
office, the city will also conduct 'raids' on street children and the
homeless. All residents, including
children found on the street during these raids, will attend guidance counseling
and training programs before being employed in the industrial sector. Ilham said the
municipality was working with the Muslim Charitable Donations Board in
Makassar to provide training programs for street children. Already 25 street
children who have been trained for three months in welding, motor repair and
electricity, are now working for a number of companies, Ilham
said. "We are now working
together with a number of relevant agencies (so we can) take over the
training center to train street children to become workers. "A number of companies have stated
their commitment to recruit the street children at least two workers per
company," he said. Provide
scholarships for them The Jakarta Post,
April 3, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/04/03/provide-scholarships-for-them/ [accessed 18 January
2017] Poverty is the main
reason why children drop out of school to become beggars or hawkers to help
their parents. Although the Constitution assures them the right to a better
living, the number of neglected children continues to increase. The
Jakarta Post asked some residents for their opinions on the issue … 'Govt can’t help street children' The Jakarta Post,
April 2, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/04/02/govt-cant-help-street-children/ [accessed 18 January
2017] While children are guaranteed
state protection under the law and in the Constitution, reality is often much
different. In Jakarta, neglected and abused children can be found at
virtually every major intersection. Aust man jailed in
Indonesia over sex charges Agence France-Presse AFP, Reuters, Feb 26, 2007 www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/02/26/1857727.htm [accessed 30 May
2011] An
Indonesian court has jailed an Australian man for 10 years for sexually abusing
street children. The
48-year-old language teacher was arrested in Jakarta in August after seven
children complained he had sexually abused them. Amount of Street
Children Rises Pramono, Tempo Interactive,
Jakarta, 05 February 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/amount-of-street-children-rises/ [accessed 18 January
2017] The amount of
street children in Jakarta has risen quite sharply during the last two
years. In 2004, the Social Services
Department recorded that there were 98.113 street children but by 2006, this
amount had jumped to 144,889. Soccer Scores with
Awareness and Help for Vulnerable Street Children www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/284081/116491759940.htm [Last access date
unavailable] While the rest of
the world observes World AIDS Day on December 1, one of Indonesia's most
vulnerable populations, street children, will be playing soccer-- and learning
more about HIV/AIDS as they score. A
collaboration of Church World Service (CWS) Indonesia, the Indonesian
Ministry of Health and the Global Fund, SCORE -- SOCCER 4 CHILDREN ON ROAD 2
EMPOWERMENT - is a program for street children, designed to increase their
knowledge of HIV & AIDS, using the ubiquitous game as an entry point. Child trafficking
on rise in Indonesia Australian
Associated Press AAP, Dec 4 2006 www.theage.com.au/news/World/Child-trafficking-on-rise-in-Indonesia/2006/12/04/1165080872983.html [accessed 12 July
2013] "We only have
to walk through Kuta or any other tourist area at
night to see for ourselves the many young girls working in the street, or in
many of the clubs, karaoke bars or even hotels operating in the area,"
she said. "Adolescent children
who drop out of school are the most vulnerable. "They are trapped by poor education,
with little or no work opportunities. As such they are easy prey for
traffickers." Ministry of Women
Empowerment child protection assistant deputy Soepalarto
Soedibjo said there had been a "significant
increase" of sexual exploitation of children, with no significant
improvement despite recent efforts to fight the problem. Makassar Police
arrest two for running begging ring Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, 10 November 2006 www.thejakartapost.com/news/2006/11/10/makassar-police-arrest-two-running-begging-ring.html [accessed 30 May
2011] Ibrahim said that
according to Sampara, the beggars and street
children were transported to Makassar from Jeneponto
and Takalar regencies. Every day the children were dropped off
near at least 20 busy intersections throughout Makassar, Ibrahim said. Sampara told officials
each child was required to collect at least Rp
10,000 (US$1.05) a day, with some children being obliged to collect at least Rp 50,000 a day.
"If the children failed to meet the target, Sampara
beat them up," Ibrahim said. Govt to send street
kids to school The Jakarta Post,
September 26, 2006 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/09/26/govt-to-send-street-kids-to-school/ accessed 18 January
2017] The government is
initiating a program to send some 800,000 street children to school. Their
parents, if they also live on the street, will be trained for work abroad or
in other areas of the country. Australian on sex
charges in Jakarta Australian
Associated Press AAP, Aug 8 2006 www.smh.com.au/news/National/Australian-on-sex-charges-in-Jakarta/2006/08/08/1154802869445.html [accessed 9 Aug 2013] The 48-year-old man,
named by police only as Peter, was arrested in his rented house in Jakarta on
Saturday after police received reports from two children who fled his house,
police spokesman I Ketut Untung
Yoga Ana said. Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer said on Tuesday the Jakarta-based English teacher allegedly
had molested more than 50 Indonesian street children since moving to the
country in 2000. A solution for
street children Odo Fadloeli,
Jakarta Post, Bandung, August 02, 2006 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/08/02/a-solution-for-street-children/ [accessed 18 January
2017] Learning that the authorities
believe putting street children into shelters is the answer, the children
themselves have other thoughts. Most of them prefer to go back to the
streets, where they can make some money for their families, rather than
living a ‘normal life’. The Status and
Trends of HIV/AIDS/STI epidemics in Asia and the Pacific [PDF] Monitoring the AIDS
Pandemic (MAP) Network, Melbourne, October 4, 2001 pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACM798.pdf [accessed 19
September 2011] pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pnacm798.pdf [accessed 13
December 2016] FIGURE 15 - Since the
economic crisis developed in Indonesia in 1998, the number of children living
on the streets of large cities has increased. Many of these children
have sex, and for some of them sex is their source of income. Recent studies
among street children in Jakarta and Central Java found that between a
quarter and a third of the children were sexually active and only six percent
had ever used a condom. Not surprisingly, many were infected with STIs: in
Jakarta, one child in seven had a history of STI and one in 20 were injecting drugs. To give or not to
give: The city’s moral dilemma Ika Krismantari,
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, July 16, 2006 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2006/07/16/to-give-or-not-to-give-the-citys-moral-dilemma/ [accessed 18 January
2017] ‘Giving street children money is not a good
solution. Streets have never been a good place for children. When we give
them money, we nurture them to stay on the street,’ Fabio Valentino, a
program manager of the Stop Giving Money To Children social organization,
told The Jakarta Post. Fabio, also an
activist with nonprofit group Sahabat Anak, said the streets have a serious impact on
children’s psychological development.
‘Living on the street means that the children have a greater
likelihood of being exposed to violence, physical abuse and exploitation,’
Fabio said. Malang street
children join students for final school test Wahyoe Boediwardhana,
The Jakarta Post, Malang, June 10, 2006 [accessed 18 January
2017] They do not differ much
from the other students in terms of their ability to absorb lessons. They
even scored on a par with regular students in the practice exam given
earlier. "They have a
very low threshold for boredom, however. They are easily bored if they are in
class for too long. They are not timid in expressing things, perhaps due to
their exposure to the streets, so they can give an impression of being
rough," said Eko, who is one of three teachers
assigned by the school to teach street children. Street children at
high risk of HIV The Jakarta Post,
May 30, 2006 www.ahrn.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2484&Itemid=2#2 [accessed 30 May
2011] A 15-year-old girl,
one of the hundreds of street children hanging around the Blok M business
district in South Jakarta , tells a group of
researchers that she knows about HIV/AIDS but has no idea how to protect
herself from it. "Some of us
have had oral sex and some of us have had sex with different people without
using protection," the girl, who works as a street musician, said. Information About
Street Children - Indonesia [DOC] This report is taken
from “A Civil Society Forum for East and South East Asia on Promoting and
Protecting the Rights of Street Children”, 12-14 March 2003 – Bangkok
Thailand At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 30 May
2011] What kind of problems
do you experience on the streets?:
I’ve been raped, and I have to clean the train if I want to sell food
on the train (16-year-old boy); My
friend got all busted up with a bamboo stick, and now the other kids make fun
of him because he’s crippled (17-year-old boy); I’m always forced to hand over money, and
my friends want to kiss me (16-year-old girl); I been raped and I’ve been bashed up
(17-year-old boy) Street Children Get
Another Chance in Indonesia Kirsten Hongisto, Christian Children's Fund, May 8, 2006 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 30 May
2011] Before the shelter
opened, most of the children slept at the terminal overnight. Sometimes the
police and others would beat them or destroy their instruments. For
girls, the risks included prostitution. Even though most of the youth are
from the Boyolali area, they opted to stay in the
terminal because it’s close to where they earn their money. And for some of
them, it was safer in the bus terminal than it was at home. Security Tight as
Tens of Thousands Protest Across Asia on Labor Day Nancy-Amelia Collins,
Voice of America VOA News, Jakakrta, 01 May 2006 www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2006-05-01-voa13/400353.html [accessed 12 October
2012] In the Jakarta
demonstrations, 12-year-old Yusuf heads a delegation of around 10 street
children, many who eke out an existence on the streets of the capital by
singing or selling snacks. He says the
children want their voices to be heard because they are here to support the
rights of street children and the rights of poor children everywhere. Social Hierarchy
and the Production of Street Children in Indonesia Yayasan Lembaga
Pengkajian Sosial Humana
(YLPS Humana) At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 24
September 2011] If identity and
inclusion in state go hand in hand both are determined by the fulfillment of
specified state regulations, then non-fulfillment result in non-identity and
exclusion. Street children in Indonesia then, officially and rightfully do
not exist. They are branded invisible and they many not enjoy any of the benefits
of state acceptance such as the right to an education, the right to a home,
health care, or any of the other basic rights specified in the 1989 UN
Convention on the Right of the Child. Rise
In Teen Prostitution Marianne Kearney,
The Straits Times, 14 nov 2000 www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54b/079.html [accessed 30 May
2011] Indonesia has also
seen a dramatic increase in the number of teen prostitutes in the last three
years as the economic crisis has forced a record number of children onto the
streets to earn a living. From
School to the Streets Marianne Kearney,
Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, JAKARTA, 22 dec
1999 www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/54b/077.html [accessed 30 May
2011] Although the only official study to date says that in 12 of Indonesia's major cities, there are around 40 000 child street workers, the number of working children is probably closer to 5.5 million -- the same number that have left school. The United Nations Children's Fund says almost 40 percent of young children (under 2 years old) are suffering from malnutrition The Construction
and Protection of Individual and Collective Identities by Street Children Harriot Beazley,
Children, Youth and Environments 13(1), Spring 2003 www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/13_1/Vol13_1Articles/CYE_CurrentIssue_Article_ChildrenYouthIndonesia_AbstractBeazley.htm [accessed 31 May
2011] Indonesia has a
proliferation of children living on the streets of its larger cities. In the
eyes of the state and dominant society, these children are seen to be
committing a social violation, as their very presence contradicts state
ideological discourse on family values and ideas about public order Hope for Street
Girls Omana Nair, External
Relations Officer, Asian Development Bank ADB At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 May
2011] A SCHEME IS PROVIDING ACCOMMODATION FOR PREGNANT
GIRLS AND YOUNG MOTHERS - In
the wake of the financial crisis, street children have become a common sight at most major intersections in Indonesia’s
large cities. They sing and dance or strum on a battered guitar—and then make
beelines for taxis or expensive cars to beg for a bit of change. Preventing HIV/AIDS
by Promoting Life for Indonesian Street Children Bill Black and Arin
P. Farrington, Family Health International FHI, Building on Success: The Next Generation of HIV/AIDS Programs,
Volume IV, Number 1, June 1997 www.fhi.org/en/HIVAIDS/pub/Archive/articles/AIDScaptions/volume4no1/IndonesianStChildren.htm [accessed 31 May
2011] Iwan beat up another student at school. Fearing his father's reaction, he fled his parents' home in the Indonesian city of Krawang and moved to Jakarta, the country's capital. Since then, he has lived on the streets, making his living shining shoes, stealing and trading sex for money. Another street youth introduced him to sex. Now 15 years old, Iwan has never used a condom. He has heard about syphilis, but not about HIV or AIDS. Free clinic for
street children - Street children learn to value their health in Yogyakarta Wied Trisnadi
and Paramitha Hapsari, Inside Indonesia 75: Jul- Sep 2003 www.insideindonesia.org/feature-editions/free-clinic-for-street-children [accessed 12 October
2012] www.insideindonesia.org/free-clinic-for-street-children [accessed 13
December 2016] Street children
have no access to the public health institutions. Nor do they have reliable sources
of information about health. Public
health centers and the polyclinics of public hospitals regularly refuse
treatment to street children because they do not have identity cards. Indeed,
street children without an identity card cannot access any public service of
any kind, including enrolment in school. Information and
Computer Technology for Indonesian Children - INTERAKSI Grant period: May
2000 - June 2003 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 May
2011] The goals of
INTERAKSI I were: (1) to help two Indonesian NGOs working with street children
to become more sustainable through capacity building and the development of
technology skills they could sell and (2) to teach computer literacy to
street children as a means of developing potential income-generating skills. Japan Fund Will
Help Female Street Children In Indonesia Asian Development
Bank ADB, JAKARTA, 01 November 2000 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 May
2011] Asian Development
Bank grants for poverty reduction projects will help victims of sexual abuse
and child prostitution in Yogyakarta by providing rehabilitation, medical,
and health services. A 1999 survey of
12 cities found that girls make up 20 percent of Indonesia's estimated
170,000 street children but that programs for street children have
concentrated on boys. The survey also
found that the majority of the female street children are between the ages of
4 and 18. Griya Asih - A Sanctuary For Street Kids Des Price, The
Jakarta Post, Jakarta, October 07, 2002 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 May
2011] It all started when
the then 59-year-old woman opened her modest home to around 40 street
children looking for shelter from the deluge. They came in droves when word
got around about a kind lady who accommodated street kids, fed and clothed
them. Literacy
Breakthroughs December 1999 www.accu.or.jp/litdbase/break/2_02.htm [accessed 31 May
2011] SUMMARY - The report aims at
sharing an innovative experience of developing media with and for the street
children in Bandung region of Indonesia. The paper opines that street
children's media provide a communication channel among street children
themselves. It also demonstrates how an interactive media model could be
developed by and for the street children themselves. Finally, the report
provides exemplar media materials developed by the street children
participated in this project. Media Development
with Street Children/LRCCE [PDF] 27 December 1999 www.accu.or.jp/litdbase/break/pdf/IDNf902B.pdf [accessed 31 May
2011] COMMUNICATING WITH
STREET CHILDREN -
Why won’t we throw away all these statistics and judgements about street
children? If we want to work with them we have to think like them:
communicate with their language. Communication. For
street children’s assistants, this means squatting, making some conversation
and sharing a cigarette (if you have one…). It includes joining in various
verbal abuse and street children slang and jokes….. Who are street
children’s assistants? The street children’s assistants are a ‘spear point’
of institutions who work on street children’s programmes.
They become ‘friends’ of the street children and show how to build a group. In fact, street children
are a group, but they consist of independent and individual people…. Street
children can steal from their friend’s pocket while they are sleeping….. The street children
never run looking for a shelter when it is raining. That means the assistants
must do the same, staying out in the rain and getting wet. When the children
meet at night, the assistants must accompany them in playing guitars through
the night. No wonder, according to the research, many street children
assistants get sick, whereas the street children, they already have
endurance. UK internet donor
funds Indonesian street children center MicroAid Press Release,
September 2004 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 May
2011] Gareth and Sarah
Williams from Berkhamsted have raised
over £12,000 to support the “Griya Asih” sanctuary for street children foundation’s project
in Jakarta to buy their own property from the Catholic Church who are selling
the building. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children - Indonesia",
http://gvnet.com/streetchildren/Indonesia.htm, [accessed <date>] |
