Tobacco Seducing More Young People

http://thejakartaglobe.com/news/tobacco-seducing-more-young-people/278129

From 1950s heartthrob James Dean to Winona Ryder's chain smoking in “Reality Bites,” to Will Smith lighting up a cigar every time he kills an alien in “Independence Day,” Hollywood never ceases to glamorize smoking. In the past several years, however, thanks to health campaigns, such glamorization has been curbed on television and in the movies.

In Indonesia, though, not only are there no restrictions on heroes and heroines smoking on screen, the country is also one of only two that still allows cigarette advertising. The other is Zimbabwe, which like Indonesia is one of the largest tobacco exporters in the world.

As a result, global cigarette companies, whose sales have experienced a slump in the West, are pushing marketing campaigns in developing Asian countries like Indonesia. Just take a look at the television or walk the streets: cigarette commercials and gigantic cigarette billboards are everywhere.

“The worst thing is, the aggressive marketing is targeted toward youth,” said Widyastuti Soerojo, from the Indonesian Public Health Association's Tobacco Control Support Center.

The message has not changed: smoking is cool, manly or sexy, and is associated with success and money. And it works. Smoking prevalence among young people has increased, according to the Public Health Association.

An Early Start

Tobacco companies are even targeting children, sponsoring school events and giving out free packs of cigarettes to students.

Indonesia has 63 million smokers, and the World Health Organization's Global Youth Tobacco Survey of 2006 reported that more than 1 in 10 students aged 13 to 15 smoked cigarettes. The same survey also reported that 6 in 10 students were passive smokers, while a survey the year before by the Ministry of Health said a staggering 43 million children were exposed to smoke from the people around them. A number of studies also show that the age most Indonesians start smoking is as young as 10 years old.

Ade Priatna, a 16-year-old junior high school dropout in North Jakarta, admitted that the images from advertising, television and movies had influenced him and his peers to smoke.

"Peer pressure is also a factor. We'd call each other sissy if we didn't smoke," Ade said.

Taking Action

In a bid to prevent children from smoking, the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) has requested the Supreme Court to issue a legal directive confirming that cigarettes contain addictive substances. Should the court do so, the central government would automatically be required to ban the sales of cigarettes to children and pregnant women.

The commission has also filed a judicial review against a 2002 law on broadcasting, on the grounds that cigarette advertising is increasingly targeting children.

Tobacco companies continue to regularly sponsor sports events and pop concerts in Indonesia, despite being banned from doing so in other countries such as the United States. Some foreign artists have even had to take a personal stand against the sponsorship.

Last year, singer-songwriter Alicia Keys asked Philip Morris International to pull down its promotional material at her show in Jakarta, or else she would refuse to perform. Keys acted after being alerted by the Washington, DC-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. She apologized, saying she was unaware of Philip Morris's sponsorship.

Addicted to the Industry

The government has taken only restrained steps to limit smoking and done nothing to ban advertising, claiming that millions of people are dependent on the tobacco industry, from farming and production to sales of cigarettes. The tobacco industry also paid more than $4.5 billion in taxes last year, or about 10 percent of the country's total revenue.

Many experts, however, have warned that the social and economic costs of tobacco far outweigh the financial benefits. The WHO estimates that 400,000 Indonesians die from smoking-related diseases each year.

"People are sick more often and are not being productive," said David Stanford, an advocacy consultant for the Indonesian Consumers Foundation.

He said statements from senior government officials that tobacco control, such as increased taxes, would kill the industry and the livelihoods of millions of people was just a myth. "Tobacco taxation actually increases government revenues, curbing the social impact and preventing health hazards," Stanford said.

Referring to a 2005 study by the Health Ministry's Research and Development Body, Widyastuti said the economic losses due to tobacco consumption in Indonesia were actually higher than the total tobacco tax revenues.

The survey revealed that tobacco use was attributed to about 400,000 deaths a year from 11 prominent smoking-related diseases. The total direct costs of spending on cigarettes and health care for smoking-related diseases was Rp 105.4 trillion ($10.22 billion), while total indirect costs due to loss of worker productivity was Rp 61.6 trillion.

The combined total of Rp 167 trillion, Widyastuti said, was about five times higher than the government's excise tax revenues. "It all boils down to addiction. The only solution is regulation to increase cigarette prices," she said.

Labels: health, social affairs, Tobacco

Posted by hera at 3:45 AM | Permalinks | Comments

The Cost of Smoking: How the Farmers Are Left Fuming

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/the-cost-of-smoking-how-the-farmers-are-left-fuming/277951

Bojonegoro, East Java. The clock struck an hour past noon; the field was sweltering hot, without the hint of a breeze. But the tobacco farmers from Samberan village, a three-hour drive from the East Java capital of Surabaya, still went out to work the second shift that day.

The month of April is when the farmers start the five-month-long process of farming tobacco.

“It’s much easier to take care of a baby than to handle a tobacco plant,” said Iskak, who has been growing tobacco for more than 30 years and owns less than a hectare of land.

Tobacco is high maintenance, he said, and it takes several processes to get it to harvest, from land tilling to nurturing seedlings for a month before they take root. The plant requires just the right amount of water and is highly sensitive to the weather, especially rainfall patterns. Climate change has created headaches for the farmers, causing some of their crops to fail and degrading the quality of the surviving plants.

Then there’s the numerous attacks by pests in the past few years. “It used to be only caterpillars, but now there are fleas as well,” said Kadi, another farmer. “And insecticide just doesn’t work.”

On top of these troubles, after decades of growing and supplying tobacco to cigarette producers in Bojonegoro, including Gudang Garam, Dji Sam Soe, Wismilak and 369, the farmers seem little better off.

Insufficient Incomes

Government officials and tobacco companies argue that millions of people are dependent on the industry for their livelihood, but research shows that the farmers’ incomes are far below the national average and many of them, stuck in a cycle of poverty, seem eager to switch crops.

Tobacco use has increased almost sixfold from 35 billion cigarettes consumed in 1971 to 202 billion in 2004. However, land for tobacco cultivation only increased from 170,000 hectares in 1971 to 200,000 hectares in 2004.

Less than half of the 466 farmers in this village of 2,000 people own their land; the rest are peasants, earning Rp 30,000 ($2.85) or less a day. Many farmers are still living in homes with dirt floors.

Even those who own land say they wind up with meager profits. Farmers need to have at least Rp 18 million to plant a hectare of tobacco, Iskak said, with the money sometimes obtained by taking out a loan.

“A hectare of land produces about 1.5 tons, and if the quality is good, it’s sold for about Rp 13,500 a kilogram, or a total of Rp 20 million,” he said. “That only leaves us Rp 2 million profit, or Rp 400,000 a month.”

Big producers like Gudang Garam hold sway in villages like Samberan, leasing the farmers the land, lending them fertilizers and seeds, and deducting money from their crop payments.

But farmers say they have no say in the selling price and are at the mercy of the companies in other ways. Last year, Gudang Garam declined to buy the entire harvest of tobacco in Samberan, saying the quality was not good enough. The farmers were then forced to sell their tobacco for only Rp 3,000 to Rp 4,000 a kilogram, far below the market price, to traders who apparently resold the supply to the tobacco factories in the area, also below market price.

Last year’s losses forced Abdul Somad, a middleman between the farmers and the factories, to quit. He had received fertilizer and seeds from Gudang Garam to distribute to the farmers and later collected the harvested tobacco, receiving a commission from the company.

“I collected tobacco produced by 60 farmers, covering 25 hectares. Last year was tough because the company didn’t want to buy tobacco, leaving me with millions of rupiah in losses,” he said, adding that he would rather find a new job.

Not Worth the Risks

Farmers in other regions face the same situation, according to recent research by the Demographic Institute at the University of Indonesia’s School of Economics. Indonesia has 198,000 hectares of tobacco plantations, the vast majority in East Java, Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara, where the research was conducted.

The study shows that most farmers have worked for an average 16.82 years, farming 7.14 hours a day, but only earn Rp 413,374 a month — less than half the national minimum wage of Rp 883,693 a month. Women and children also work on the plantations and receive smaller wages.

Most of the farmers, regardless of whether they own their land, stay in modest houses with either dirt or cement floors.

“Such a low income is not worth it compared to the risks taken by farmers, like climate change, pests and price decreases,” said researcher Abdillah Ahsan. “Buyers also decide the prices and quality of tobacco and there is no standard set on them.”

There are about 40 grades of tobacco, according to the research, but no set determining standard, so it’s up to buyers to decide. In many cases, he said, they manipulate farmers by saying the tobacco they sell is of the lowest grade.

Farmers also complain, Abdillah said, that the price of fertilizers, insecticides and seeds are rising but the price of harvested tobacco remains stagnant. The maximum price is Rp 25,000 a kilogram.

Widening Wealth Gap

The farmers’ lack of fortune is in strong contrast to those of the cigarette giants. PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna reported Rp 9.10 trillion in sales in the first quarter of 2009, while Gudang Garam had Rp 7.65 trillion in sales.

Cigarette czars Michael Hartono and brother Budi Hartono, producers of Djarum, are the richest men in Indonesia with a collective wealth of $1.7 billion, earning them a place on Forbes magazine’s global billionaires list for 2009.

The Indonesian Clove Cigarette Producers Association and Gudang Garam could not be reached for comment.

Tulus Abadi, from the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, said new regulations on tobacco farming were urgent given how it’s practically controlled by the cigarette industry without any intervention by the government.

“Tobacco farmers have only been used as politicking tools and [ammunition] against tobacco critics,” he said. “The cigarette industry always manipulates the number of farmers.”

Figures from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2005 showed that there were 683,000 tobacco farmers, 258,000 people working in the cigarette factories and some one million more involved in distribution and trade.

But Industry Minister Fahmi Idris said that at least 12 million people depended on the cigarette industry for their livelihoods, and cited this as the reason why it was difficult for Indonesia to sign the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which provides a framework for controlling tobacco production and sale. State revenues from the tobacco industry totaled Rp 52 trillion in 2006, making it Indonesia’s largest taxpayer.

Indonesia joined 167 other countries in signing the treaty in 2004, but remains one of only four nations that have failed to ratify it. Without ratifying the treaty, there are no limits on tobacco production, while farmers remain powerless and have no bargaining power in setting tobacco prices.

“Cigarette producers can stock up tobacco for two years, unlike farmers. When asked to pay a higher price, they say they won’t buy the tobacco and that importing it is much cheaper,” Tulus said.

About 35 percent of Indonesia’s tobacco supply is imported, mainly from Zimbabwe.

Difficult Switch

The Demographic Institute’s research shows that about 65 percent of tobacco farmers want to find other jobs or businesses, even when they own their own land.

In Samberan, some farmers have already tried planting other crops. Last year, Bojonegoro district launched a project for farmers to plant melons and corn. The harvest was good but no marketing strategy was in place, so they couldn’t sell their produce at premium prices. Some melons and corn were never sold and rotted.

“There is also a problem with a lack of infrastructure, particularly water. So when the dry season comes, we can only plant tobacco,” Iskak said, adding that fertilizer was also scarce because most supplies were going to newly established plantations in the area.

The farmers’ dependency on cigarette factories remains high. Many women work as cigarette rollers, earning Rp 20,000 a day.

“If the cigarette factories are closed, for example, the economy of this village will subside and the unemployment rate will soar as tens of thousands of people in this district work at the factory,” said Azis Zainul Abidin, a teacher in Samberan who helped with the Demographic Institute’s research. “But farming [other crops] can be empowering; it can replace the cigarette factory in the economy.”

Abdillah urged the government to issue policies that can improve farmers’ welfare, for example, by providing alternative jobs. These, he said, can be combined with an increase in the tobacco excise tax and the additional state revenue can be allocated to help farmers switch to other crops.

Labels: social affairs, Tobacco

Posted by hera at 3:40 AM | Permalinks | Comments

The Cost of Smoking: Puffing a Way Deeper Into Poverty

http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/the-cost-of-smoking-puffing-a-way-deeper-into-poverty/277648


To call the neighborhood of Muara Angke in North Jakarta a slum is an understatement. There has to be a whole new definition for the cramped, run-down, stilted houses that stand on the ankle-high, sometimes higher, water seeping in from the nearby Kali Adem River.

The dank and filthy water is still used for bathing and to wash dishes and clothes. The stifling smell of garbage and rotting fish fills the air.

People here work as fishermen or laborers, earning no more than Rp 50,000 (about $5) a day. It is hard just to get by, but even still, the men seem to have no shortage of cigarettes. It is an alarming fact here and elsewhere among people living in poverty: Men spend their money on cigarettes rather than food for their families.

Suleha, 28, a mother of four and occasional worker at a nearby fish market, says she is frustrated that her husband, Abdul Muthalib, spends half of his daily income, or more, on cigarettes.

Abdul works different odd jobs, including assisting fishermen and laboring in the market, pulling in Rp 30,000 to Rp 60,000 a day. Yet, he also smokes three packs a day, wasting up to Rp 18,000 on cigarettes instead of buying food for his children, who look visibly undernourished.

“Sometimes he can’t find any work and earns absolutely nothing for days. But he still smokes and asks the cigarette seller to allow him to pay for the cigarettes later,” Suleha said during an interview at her house while her husband was out. “When we have money, then we have to use it to pay that debt.”

Suleha said Abdul’s smoking has been a constant source of arguments between them. When she told him that the money could be better used to buy eggs, he barked: “What does it have to do with eggs?”

Suleha sometimes earns money herself by shucking oysters, getting Rp 6,000 per barrel.

“Our eldest son should enroll in junior high school this year, but I’m not sure he’ll be able to continue going to school,” she said. “We don’t have the money to pay the tuition.”

If only Abdul did not smoke, she said, the couple could save Rp 12,000 a day, or Rp 360,000 a month, which is more than enough to pay for the Rp 50,000 monthly tuition.

Suleha’s neighbor, a fisherman named Ilyas, is a smoker and says it is hard to quit — even if it means his son Zainudin, 14, can only go to a local alternative school for poor students that does not even award completion certificates.

Indonesia is home to some 63 million smokers, according to 2006 figures from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). According to the agency, on average, households with at least one smoker spend Rp 117,624 a month on cigarettes.

Indonesia joined 167 other countries in signing the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Geneva in 2004, but remains one of only four nations that have failed to ratify the treaty. The treaty’s stated goal is to “protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.”

Antismoking activists have urged the government to ratify the treaty, but many officials, notably Industry Minister Fahmi Idris, have rejected their calls, saying that at least 12 million people depend on the cigarette industry for jobs.

Locally conducted research, however, shows that cigarettes actually perpetuate poverty. Among the country’s poorest people, estimated to be about 40 million, or 10 million households, one in every two families have at least one smoker, according to BPS data.

The Demographic Institute at the University of Indonesia’s School of Economics says cigarettes account for 11.89 percent of total expenses among poor families, second only to rice. Among wealthier Indonesians, cigarettes account for 8.33 percent of their total expenses, dropping from second most prioritized commodity to fifth over the past several years.

“There has been a decrease, albeit slightly, among wealthy smokers,” Abdillah Ahsan, a researcher at the Demographic Institute, said about Indonesian consumer habits. “Among the poorest smokers, however, cigarette [purchases] have remained constant between 2003 and 2007.”

Poor households spend on average Rp 56,188 a month, or up to Rp 675,000 a year, on cigarettes, which is 17 times more than what they spend on meat, 15 times more than health care, 9 times more than educational expenses and 5 times more than dairy products.

“Family nutrition is sacrificed for the sake of cigarettes. And then smokers get smoking-related diseases, or die prematurely, leaving the family further trapped in poverty,” Abdillah said.

Dr. Widyastuti Soerojo, head of the Indonesian Public Health Association’s Tobacco Control Support Center, said the Ministry of Health estimated that about 400,000 Indonesians died every year from smoking-related diseases. The health cost burden to the state for treating such patients reached an estimated Rp 167 trillion a year in 2005, five times the annual revenue of cigarette excise taxes.

“Tobacco consumption in developed countries has dropped, but not in developing countries,” said Widyastuti, who is a medical doctor. “There should be a law to regulate cigarette consumption and to prevent new smokers.”

Activists say they lament the opportunities lost by poor families whose incomes are diverted to cigarettes, while the increased death rate from smoking among working-age breadwinners in poor households only serves to perpetuate that poverty.

“The cost for reproductive health is $11 a year per couple, or equal to 15 packs of cigarettes, which is a supply for 7 to 10 days,” Abdillah said. “If every smoking husband could refrain from smoking that much in a year, the money could be allocated for reproductive health costs and help prevent maternal mortality and unwanted pregnancy.”

The country indeed still has the highest maternal mortality rate in Southeast Asia at 262 deaths per 100,000 births, based on 2007 data, and the flagging “two children are enough” national family planning program has resulted in poor people having more children.

Abdillah said the government could reduce the number of smokers among the country’s poor by increasing the cigarette excise tax, which would lead to higher prices per pack.

“My research in 2008 showed that smokers from the poorest populations are susceptible to cigarette price increases,” he said. “A 10 percent increase reduced the number of smokers among poor families by 17 percent, compared to rich families, where it was only a 4 percent decrease.”

Price increases for cigarette packs, he said, would deter non-smokers in poorer populations from being tempted to take up the habit, saving them from the poverty trap.

“Increasing cigarette prices would also reduce the number of deaths and illnesses caused by smoking-related diseases,” Abdillah said. “In the end, it would prevent and reduce poverty by [forcing people] to alter their spending from cigarettes to more important commodities like nutritious food, education and health.”

However, Asep Cahyana, a smoker who lives in the Muara Angke slum, doubted that higher prices would decrease the number of smokers because cheap unbranded cigarettes were still readily available.

In that case, Widyastuti said, there should be other interventions in addition to increased taxes and sale prices, namely intensified antismoking campaigns, a cigarette advertising ban, widespread distribution of illustrated warnings and an increase in smoke-free areas.

Labels: social affairs, Tobacco

Posted by hera at 3:09 AM | Permalinks | Comments

How Much More to Jakarta Life Should There Be Than Shopping?

... do than just going to malls.” She shrugged when asked why she liked to go to the mall so much. “I’m not sure. I just do.” For millions of Jakartans, malls serve as an escape ...

Labels: social affairs, urban

Posted by hera at 10:43 PM | Permalinks | Comments

CSR: Between concept and reality

Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick was exasperated when asked about the likely motives behind Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities carried out by companies.

The woman behind a company credited for trail-blazing notions of social change in business, including respect for human rights, animal welfare, fair trade and the environment, said journalists were often cynical, but cynicism was not necessarily knowledge.

"There is a motive (behind CSR), that is to make business nicer!" Roddick said here Monday after delivering a speech on the importance of CSR.

In an ideal world, a company was not just about making a big profit, but also about doing its best for the community, she said.

She and other activists are in agreement when they say the world's corporate experience is dotted with big businesses selling tobacco to young people, dumping toxic waste, or exploiting their workers.

However, activists here are often suspicious when these same companies often try and come clean; by giving out scholarships, creating schools or making other contributions to society.

The percentage of these companies' contributions are often dwarfed by their huge profits, they say.

National Commission on Violence Against Women chairwoman Kamala Chandrakirana said her organization had frequently received CSR offers from the private sector.

"But we know they have polluted the environment, and made women ill because of that. We need companies not just giving us money, but we look for partnerships with firms that share a vision with us," she told the same seminar.

This is why the commission was happy to accept money from The Body Shop for its campaign against violence against women.

However, despite her image as a "renegade business leader, activist and agitator", who has called irresponsible multinationals "bloodsucking dinosaurs" and "monsters" -- as The Body Shop press release describes Roddick -- the worldwide franchise is currently being bought out by an international cosmetics giant, L'Oreal.

Food multinational Nestle, which has been criticized for its corporate record in the past, owns a significant share in L'Oreal. The deal is reportedly worth 652.3 million pounds sterling.

Is this something to do with "keep your friends close and your enemies closer"?
"Oh, relax. 'Enemies' can become your supporters. I'm so happy that a company come to me and says 'teach us how to do community trade.' "If there is a way to eliminate poverty, I will cheer them on. I'm very confident about it," Roddick said.

She said L'Oreal acted as an independent company despite its ownership.

Campaigning that its products help give women self-esteem, The Body Shop here has launched a new skin-whitening product.

These creams have been criticized by feminists here for being part of a "brown is bad, white is beautiful" beauty culture, which discriminates against darker women.
Asked about the whitener, Roddick replied with a business answer: "That's what the community wants".

So is CSR a utopian, unrealistic concept as some business cynics would have it? Or a mere whitewashing over business excesses, as some activists believe?
Noted economist Faisal Basri believes business has always had an important element of social responsibility. While most Indonesians thought that morality and business were separate, the history of economic thought had always inserted morality into the economic equation, he said.

"Companies can actually create greater profits by reaching out to people."
State telecommunication company PT Telkom was helping people by merely improving its market capitalization, without ever talking about CSR, he said.

"Only 4 percent of Indonesians currently have access to telephones. By reaching out more (and providing people with affordable phones), the company profits more."

Labels: social affairs

Posted by hera at 8:41 PM | Permalinks | Comments

RI under threat of 'lost generation'

Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Her name, Sasih, in Sundanese means 'month'. Over the past 14 years, Sasih, 33, has given birth to five children -- two boys and three girls -- with the youngest being barely two years old.
Along with husband Kadmira, a bajaj driver, the family of seven occupies a two-meter by two-meter rented room in a slum corner of Pejompongan, Central Jakarta.
Sasih said that having five children was a headache, financially and emotionally. Kadmira only earns Rp 30,000 daily, while she gets at most Rp 40,000 from selling steamed corn at a nearby low-income apartment complex.
Most of her pregnancies were unplanned, she said, and she had not used contraception.
"I took pills but they made me nauseous and dizzy. I tried injected contraceptive, but I bled the whole month. So, I stopped both," she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Jamu herbal drinks were ineffective, while Sasih did not dare to try an intra-uterine device (IUD), despite a doctor's recommendation that this was the most effective, long-term contraceptive.
"I think I'm going to try an implant. But it costs Rp 75,000," she said.
As the world's fourth most populous nation, Indonesia has long struggled to reduce its birth rate. Back in the period of the Soeharto regime, family planning was forced by the government, with the slogan "two children are enough".
It was later criticized, however, for not respecting women's reproductive rights.
The total fertility rate indeed declined from 5.6 in the 1970s to 3.02 in 1991 and 2.6 in 2003.
Yet, couples like Sasih and Kadmira, who live in poverty, continue to have more than three children.
It raises concern over the increase in the 36.1 million people currently living in poverty, which may result in a lost generation.
The head of the National Family Planning Coordination Board (BKKBN), Sumarjati Arjoso, said contraceptive users among poor families only numbered 52.4 percent, while among the non-poor population the rate was 62.4 percent. The unwanted pregnancy rate, meanwhile, was 17 percent.
"It's not in line with the program of making pregnancy safer," Sumarjati said, pointing to the alarming mortality rate of 307 deaths per 100,000 births, which was the highest in Southeast Asia.
She said the problems of family planning were rooted in a combination of lack of education and information, as well as geography and even corruption.
"Over 90 percent of people understand the concept of family planning and contraception, but (the understanding is) still superficial," she told reporters on Monday on the sidelines of a national meeting on family planning.
Most poor families prefer pills and injections, even though the longevity of these contraceptives was short -- unlike IUDs that can be used for up to 10 years -- and this factor increased the risk of unwanted pregnancy.
Implants are effective within three years, but are quite expensive. And male contraceptives seem to be out of the question in this strongly patriarchal society.
The quality of services have yet to be standardized, Sumarjati said, with infrastructure in many regions, particularly in rural areas, not available or inadequate.
Nor are many health offices informed that civil servants' health insurance (ASKES) also includes contraceptives. Worse still, contraceptives are supposed to be free, but many health workers charge for them, as confirmed by Sasih, who had to pay Rp 15,000 for injected contraceptive while pills cost Rp 5,000 per strip.
"Contraceptives are not the same as medicines for illness. When people get sick, they will pay to be cured. But when you have to pay to get contraceptives, people will back out," Sumarjati said.

Labels: social affairs

Posted by hera at 12:42 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Mixed marriages: Law hurts happiness

Sunday, September 25, 2005
Hera Diani and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Marrying foreigners may mean more love and happiness for many, financial security for others, in addition to the prospect of having beautiful children of mixed blood who someday may become models or actors.
The reality is, while happiness and love exist in many long-lasting mixed marriages, security is lost the moment an Indonesian woman marries a man of another nationality.
Based on Law No. 62/1958 on citizenship, an Indonesian woman cannot act as a sponsor for the visas of her expatriate husband and their children, and thus if the husband cannot work here, he cannot stay either, thus preventing the family from living a normal life.
An Indonesian wife cannot claim her children if a divorce takes place as children of a mixed marriage automatically adopt the father's citizenship.
Sukaedah Kumaidi Better, 34, said that she lives in constant fear that she is going to lose her children or her French husband over the citizenship issue.
"Nobody wants a divorce. But even without divorce, my husband has to leave once his contract is over... my children have to leave once they are 18 years old," she said.
For the past eight years, Sukaedah's family has had to go back and forth to Singapore to renew her husband's and children's visa, which she said is time consuming and costly.
"I am not asking for citizenship for my husband, but at least the government could cut us some slack so that he and my children do not have to renew their visa every few months."
Dewi Tjakrawinata, an executive of an alliance that groups about 4,000 couples in mixed marriages here, said that the citizenship law basically denies mixed couples and their children the opportunity to live as a "complete family".
Married to a French man, she said she could not sponsor his husband to stay even though she has a career and her own money.
"To keep their children from becoming expatriates, many Indonesian women don't even bother to register their marriages. The children's birth certificate then says that they were born out of wedlock, and thus they automatically gain their mother's citizenship," said Dewi.
However, it then creates another problem as the child is stigmatized for being born out of wedlock.
A wife of an expatriate cannot bequeath her wealth to her children either if she dies, while the children only have a year to sell the property of the mother.
An expatriate woman, repeating an immigration officer, said that the government would hunt down the children of expatriate fathers and expel them once they were 18; barely an adult.
Dewi said that the state tends to blame people for marrying expatriates.
"This is an era of globalization where encounters between citizens of different countries are inevitable," she said.
"The expatriates and their children should be seen as a state asset."
There is no record of the number of mixed marriages in the country. In Jakarta alone, however, there are at least 300 new mixed marriages registered annually -- not to mention those who do not register their marriages.
Problems also occur in small towns or border towns, where many women undergo contractual marriages. As most of them are less educated, many do not know about the law. But once the marriage contract is over, their children face deportation, while many of the fathers refuse to recognize them.
Even in other countries that do not recognize dual citizenship, there are special regulations for children of mixed couples.
She underlined that dual citizenship did not mean a person's nationalism faded.
"I could just adopt French citizenship, like my husband's, but I don't want to simply because I refuse to let go -- even if it's just administrative -- of my Indonesian roots. And I want my children to be the same way," she said.
Another story that has been told is that some Indonesian women were left penniless when their foreign husband died suddenly.
Still, the women were expected to get visas in Singapore for their children and send them to an international school, which is very expensive, during the lengthy process to make their children Indonesian citizens.
News that the House of Representatives is currently reviewing the law has given new hope for mixed marriages, but a women's rights activist and legislator from the National Awakening Party (PKB), Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, has expressed concern that deliberation of the revision would not be completed "in just one day".
"Well, actually, the legislators' plan to review the bill has been in process for years, but the goodwill to really correct the bill has just come to their minds in the past year.
"Aimed at encouraging my fellow legislators to revise the Law, I shared ideas about problems which have been raised due to this discriminative and gender-biased law in June of this year. My fellow legislators agreed to speed up the deliberation of the draft revision, but I wonder why the bill is not among 55 pieces of legislation that should be finalized by this year," Nursyahbani told the Post.
Maggie Agusta, 56, said that the government was not even transparent about the law, as she would have gotten the citizenship if she had known about it.
"The law is fairly clear; there is lack of transparency."
Now, even after living here for over two decades, she has encountered trouble in getting Indonesian citizenship, as there was a period when she had to go back to the United States due to health problems.
"You have expatriate women and men.. many are very educated and have expertise. They may be better off in their own country. But we have commitment and expertise and are willing to contribute.
"I'm nearly 60 years old, I had grown up a lot in Indonesia. It changed me profoundly. I don't fit anywhere else in the world. This is my home," Agusta said.

Labels: legal, social affairs

Posted by hera at 12:44 AM | Permalinks | Comments

'Stateless' Chinese dream of basic rights

Sunday, October 06, 2002

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Residents of Kampung Pulo in Citeureup, Bogor, and Tegal Alur in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, are not immune from the mass hysteria over Taiwan's TV series Meteor Garden.

Some children and teenagers can be seen walking around wearing T-shirts sporting the picture of the four stars from the series. On the walls of their rooms, or even in their living rooms, are large posters of F4, Meteor Garden's stars, who are also Taiwan's top boy band.

In a corner of the neighborhood, several housewives are caught up in a discussion over the plot of Meteor Garden and other soaps starring the boy band, which are all aired by the local TV stations.

As Asian TV dramas -- not only those from Taiwan but also from South Korea -- begin to flood the country, evidence of the new frenzy can also be spotted in Tegal Alur and Kampung Pulo, particularly as both places have a lot of residents of Chinese descent.

However, the glamor life of the rich kids portrayed in the series does not even come close to the residents of either subdistrict, whose population of Chinese-Indonesians reaches 550 respectively.

Living in small houses, they are far off from the stereotype that Chinese-Indonesians are well-off, as most residents earn below or slightly above the regional monthly minimum wage (UMR). Most work at nearby factories.

Being categorized in the lower income bracket of the economy, however, is not their only problem.

As with many Chinese-Indonesians, they also face discrimination. Worse still, because of their roots, they have difficulty in obtaining legal documents, such as their citizenship certificate and identification card, which makes them practically "stateless".

Their history is a bit complicated as it goes back as far as 1958, when the People's Republic of China claimed that every Chinese person in the world was a Chinese citizen.

The Indonesian government gave those of Chinese descent the option of choosing their citizenship. Unfortunately, not all of them were well informed about it. Chinese ships, which were supposed to carry back those who opted for Chinese citizenship, came only once, leaving many others without citizenship.

The situation became worse with the tense relationship between China and Indonesia around 1965.

Afterwards, the government issued many regulations related to citizenship, which discriminated against the Chinese.

It resulted in creating difficulties for those of Chinese descent who wanted to obtain legal documents.

For the wealthy Chinese, the problems could be overcome by bribing the officials, but not for those with a lower income, such as the residents of Tegal Alur and Kampung Pulo.

To start with, although they were born in this country and have been here for several generations, many do not have birth certificates.

"We also have difficulty in obtaining ID cards. Without an ID card, we can't get married. That's why many of us don't have marriage certificates, because we just throw small parties for our families and relatives. That's it. It's not legalized or anything, but it's common here," Tjan E. Lie of Tegal Alur said lightly.

As a consequence, many children in both places are not recognized by the state. The children have birth certificates, but there is a note saying that he or she is "anak luar nikah" or a child born out of wedlock, and they are their mothers' children.

"My children understand that they are registered as children born out of wedlock. But what can we do? It's because I don't have an ID card or a marriage certificate," Tjan said.

She said it was possible to obtain an ID card if they paid about Rp 25,000. But they would still have to enclose their Republic of Indonesia Citizenship Certificate (SBKRI).

A citizenship certificate is needed to process many other documents, including passports, business licenses, credit applications and even university applications.

The process is endless as the citizenship certificate is also difficult to obtain.

Top Indonesian shuttler Hendrawan, for example, only got his earlier this year after President Megawati Soekarnoputri stepped in to help.

Data shows there are no less than 12 bureaucratic institutions involved in the process of issuing a citizenship certificate before it can be signed by the president.

The institutions are the community unit (RT), the neighborhood unit (RW), the subdistrict office, the district office, the mayoralty office, the gubernatorial office, the police subprecinct, the police station, the city police headquarters, the prosecutor's office, the district court and finally the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

With all the bureaucracy, Tjan and her husband Tju Lu Lian and many of their neighbors simply gave up in the end.

"We are worried that we will get arrested if we are caught in a police raid for ID cards," Tju said.

Another problem arises when they want to get a divorce as their marriage is not even recognized.

In Kampung Pulo, meanwhile, things are a bit more complex as the majority of people are believers of Khonghucu. So far, the state does not recognize Khonghucu as one of the five existing religions officially listed here: Islam, Catholicism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Therefore, marriages between believers of Khonghucu are considered illegal, and thus, couples of this faith will not receive marriage certificates unless they convert to one of the religions recognized by the government.

"Many of us have refused to do so because that means we're being a hypocrite," said Tan Im Yang, 55, a prominent figure in Kampung Pulo.

Just like the children in Tegal Alur, many children in Kampung Pulo are then declared as being born out of wedlock.

"I don't understand. We've been here for many generations and you can see that we don't even look so Chinese anymore. Yet, we cannot have simple basic civil rights like owning ID cards. And then they don't recognize our religion.

"It's ridiculous. They (the state) give us the freedom to conduct our religion, but they don't recognize it as being legal," Tan said.

Tan's daughter, Lois Taneri, 17, said she was often ridiculed at school.

"My friends mocked me, asking 'Is there such thing as the Khonghucu religion?' At school, I have to take a Catholicism class. The school administration also stated on my student card that I'm a Buddhist. I then erased it and changed it myself," said Lois, who has just graduated from the nearby Budi Mulya senior high school.

Lois does not really pay any attention to what her peers say, especially since she has graduated, although many other young believers of Khonghucu do.

Tan Im Yang said that many young people were embarrassed about their religion.

"I'm afraid that this will lead to a decline in the number of believers, which has already happened. I don't see why our religion is not considered to be a valid one. We believe in one God, we don't believe in superstition. It's a very realistic religion, so I don't see any reason why I should convert," he said.

In 1971, he said, the Khonghucu congress was recognized by then president Soeharto, who turned up for the event.

"I asked the government officials about it. They can't argue but they don't seem to be doing anything about it either," Tan said.

As for Tjan and Tju, they still do not have ID cards even though they have converted to Christianity.

Tju said that his neighbor, a fellow Chinese, got a card very easily just because they pretended to be Muslim.

"Local officials processed the proposal very quickly and they never got any hassles for doing that even though they are very much Buddhists until today," he said.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa (SNB), have been working hard on this matter, but to no avail.

"People in Tegal Alur don't have rights, but when it comes to the general election, for example, their votes are used by political parties," said Candra M. from SNB.

A team at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights is actually working on another draft of the Citizenship Law.

An official from the team, who asked not to be named, said there would be no more discrimination in the drafted law.

"With the law, we don't have to state our religion or our descent on an ID card or other legal document," he said.

He said, however, that discrimination still prevailed, especially at the lower government level.

"Honestly, if I needed an ID card quickly, I would also resort to nembak (bribing an official). It's not a matter of the law, but the matter of knowing the law," he added.

In that case, it may seem that the people of Tegal Alur and Kampung Pulo need to wait longer until they can have their rights, the most basic rights that they are entitled to.

Recent history of Chinese-Indonesians

* 1955: Indonesia and China sign an agreement on dual citizenship, which allows Chinese people living in the country to hold both Indonesian and Chinese citizenship.

* 1958: Indonesia approves the citizenship law, which stipulates naturalization.

* 1959: Indonesia and China agree to a repatriation process for 140,000 ethnic Chinese.

* 1965: An aborted coup, blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party, takes place. Jakarta accuses China of involvement, which China denies.

* 1967: Diplomatic ties with China are frozen, bring an abrupt halt to repatriations. About 100,000 people become stranded here and are deemed stateless.

* 1969: Indonesia decides not to honor the dual citizenship agreement. A Chinese person whose parents hold China citizenship can only obtain Indonesia citizenship through naturalization, which can only be proven proved by the issuance of an SBKRI.

* 1990: Indonesia resumes ties with China.

* 1992: Beijing says it will issue passports in January 1993 for stateless Chinese here, whose number now reaches more than 240,000.

* 1996: Soeharto issues a decree on the annulment of the SBKRI requirement. Chinese-Indonesians may instead use their ID cards, birth certificates and kartu keluarga (family cards) for education and business purposes.

* 1998: Habibie issues a decree ordering government officials to treat all Indonesians the same.

* 1999: Habibie issues a decree banning discrimination against Indonesians based on origin.

Labels: legal, social affairs

Posted by hera at 12:51 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Where must we draw the line on porn?

Sunday, March 31, 2002

Emmy Fitri and Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Pornography, according to one standard definition, is the representation of erotic behavior in books, pictures, statues, motion pictures, etc. that is designed to cause sexual excitement

In its original Greek definition, the word means any work of art or literature depicting prostitutes. Now, many centuries later, the definition has changed along with shifting norms and moral values.

Fundamentally, it's a subjective matter as everyone has their opinion on when erotica becomes obscene. Like one American judge famously said, "I know it when I see it".

Porn has now come to the forefront of issues in this diverse society with people testing the waters of freedom after the end of Soeharto's authoritarian 32-year rule in May 1998.

Pornography, while available underground during Soeharto's rule, has come onto the streets and into the home in the past four years. Although still illegal, cheap hard-core porn VCDs are readily available from sidewalk vendors. Local tabloids with provocative photos and graphic sex stories are top sellers at newsstands.

Many parties have expressed concern about the proliferation of porn, but nothing concrete has been done to tackle the problem.

The issue is how to decide when material violates "community" standards and, most importantly, who must be in charge of controlling it.

The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI), for example, defines pornography as anything -- from verbal expressions, gestures, pictures or signs -- that incite people to commit adultery or illicit sexual activity.

But, women's rights activist Gadis Arivia said that pornography was acceptable to some extent, except if it contained violence or there was harassment of the models.

"Pictures of women and men showing their body parts are still acceptable. In the case of women, it can't be said that they're exploited because it's their decision. They have choices to be whatever they want and they have the rights over their bodies."

The cases that have come before courts are normally about material that falls into a legal gray area, with defense arguments that it is actually "artistic expression".

MUI itself announced in March the names of several television programs that it believed contained suggestive content.

According to MUI chairman Umar Shihab, the organization observed in the past two years that several media organizations had gone too far and violated the newfound freedom.

"Without control, they exploit everything and have crossed the line of morals and ethics for mere business profits."

MUI's announcement, while backed by State Minister of Communications and Information Syamsul Mu'arif who has promised to come down hard on the offending media, also pointed to the intrinsically subjective nature of defining porn.

At the center of the controversy was Dansa Yo Dansa, a ballroom dancing show which was deemed too suggestive.

"TVRI is the only TV station with the broadest range that can reach remote villages," Umar said in justifying MUI's decision.

"People in this country like to copy, you know. What if villagers watch television and see that city people are having fun at night with dancing, embracing men or women who are not their husbands or wives, and wearing something revealing?"

The crux of the issue, however, is that nobody appears able to define the community standard. Under articles 282 and 283 of the Criminal Code pertaining to standards of decency, airing or publishing material deemed offensive could lead to charges.

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced in June 2000 the chief editor of Matra monthly men's magazine, Robertus Riantiarno, to a five-month suspended jail term for publishing sexually suggestive pictures in its 1999 June and July editions.

Those photos are tame compared to what is shown in many of the tabloids today.

"The articles, however, are open to broad interpretation because they are too general. In the end, such cases can only be processed if brought to court," said University of Indonesia legal expert Harkristuti Harkrisnowo.

The police are supposed to be the authority to take action against porn, but that poses a dilemma in how police officers, from their personal and educational backgrounds, make a decision and the potential to impinge on freedom of expression.

Would a play like Vagina Monologues, which was performed in Jakarta earlier this month, be deemed porn with its exploration of female sexuality?

"In the United States and Europe, for example, people are considered mature and can choose for themselves what's right and not. But, then again, the law there is upheld, like the age limit for purchasing alcohol. Here, anyone can buy it freely," Harkristuti said.

An antiporn law is not the answer because it would only complicate the issue, she added.

"It's better to have an agreement to underline things, at least between the police, national education ministry and religious affairs ministry. Therefore, there won't be conflicting (decisions) when a case of pornography occurs."

Gadis, meanwhile, said the government could not arbitrarily ban everything it considered porn.

"Just put it in the right place so that only those who are 'appropriate' can reach it. Don't let it be like now when any kind of pictures, magazines or tabloids that should be for adults only can be found everywhere," she said.

Labels: social affairs

Posted by hera at 1:07 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Closet door remains shut for many gays

Sunday, March 03, 2002

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It took years of pretending, of dating women and feeling hollow inside when others teased him about when he would get married, before "Heldy" finally faced facts.

"I met a man that I really look up to because he is very decent and nice. It turned out he is gay, too. It made me realize that gay people can be decent and manly, instead of the typical effeminate and sex-oriented gay that is always projected," he said.

The urge to be honest with some of those close to him grew. He told one of his best friends, but it was difficult to utter the words.

"At first I told her that I had converted to another religion, which made her nearly fall off her chair," laughed the 26-year-old writer.

"She was shocked, of course, but then managed to be cool about it."

Although Heldy has since told other friends, it has never crossed his mind to tell his family. Like most Indonesian gays who have grown up with feelings of guilt and shame, he is choosing to be selectively open with others because of the fear of rejection and stigmatization.

Although waria (transvestite homosexuals) are nothing new in Indonesian society, homosexuality remains a highly sensitive issue. Self-acknowledgement of a gay identity, including by having a same-sex partner and not submitting to societal pressure to marry, is a modern phenomenon and an anathema in this communal, family-oriented and traditionally conservative society.

The growing recognition of gays in urban centers -- where gay men and women have traditionally fled the social and family pressures of villages and small towns -- does not translate into acceptance.

Several famous fashion designers, artists and at least one former minister are generally assumed to be gay, but they would never acknowledge it to a disapproving public.

Although gay-bashing is rare here, the disruption of an AIDS conference near Yogyakarta in 2000 and the attacks on gay and transsexual participants failed to cause a public outcry.

Most people tolerate gay public figures or acquaintances, but they would not display the same attitude to their children.

Labels: culture, social affairs

Posted by hera at 1:08 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Marrying 'out': A leap of faith

Sunday, December 23, 2001
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After six years in an on-again, off-again relationship, Fransiska, 25, and Reza, 26, are finally determined to tie the knot.
It's been a difficult decision. They have dealt not only with the usual couples' issues, but also their difference in religion.
Fransiska, who is Catholic, and Reza, a Muslim, have decided that they will adhere to their respective religions.
"I just can't abandon what I've been taught and believed in the past 25 years. Neither can he," said Fransiska, or Siska, a graphic designer.
Even to take that step of finding a middle ground -- such as Siska agreeing their children will be raised as Muslims -- is fraught with guilt and the possibility of rejection from their families and communities.
Their families at first opposed their relationship, but they finally gave permission for them to wed, as long as Siska and Reza did not convert.
But they find themselves in legal limbo when it comes to marrying.
Under Law No. 1/1974 on matrimony, a marriage is only legal when it is conducted according to one faith or religion.
"If we get married at the religious affairs office (for Muslim unions), I have to state that I convert to Islam. That means pretending, and it's like playing games. I don't want to do that," Siska said.
Marrying out of one's religion is one of the most sensitive issues in Indonesian society and a nightmare for most families, with the assumption by others that parents did not bring up their children "properly". Most young people rule out dating someone of another religion because of the potential social and legal pitfalls if they do fall in love and want to marry.
Still, many interfaith couples have set up home together, including such famous unions as actress Lydia Kandou and singer Jamal Mirdad.
The good news for them is that a consortium of representatives -- from the government, non-governmental organizations and UNICEF -- is working on a new bill to legalize interfaith marriages while maintaining a couple's respective religions.
However, the draft of the bill is not expected for another year. Even then, attitudes will be hard to change.
Many couples deal with the legal restriction by getting married under one religion, but then continue to practice their own religions in the marriage.
"Iwan," a Muslim, and "Rachel", a Catholic, were married in a church more than 10 years ago.
"We're still happily married and still maintain our religions," Iwan said, adding that in Islam, it is OK for men to marry non-Muslim women, although it is not vice versa.
"Both my children are Catholic, but I don't mind that. You know, it's just not productive to argue about religious differences."
Others choose to go to other countries to marry, with the most popular destination being Singapore. Data shows some 5,000 Indonesian couples waiting to marry at the registry office on the island-state.
Ariani, who is a Muslim, counts herself lucky that she married John, 53, a Christian from North Sulawesi, in 1976 when the law was not strictly imposed.
Now, with three children, they are still happily married and maintain their respective religions.
"I still pray, fast and do dzikir (chanting praise to God) because I always think those are the most wonderful things. That goes for my husband, too," said Ariani, 48, an area representative of a multinational company.
"In our house, we celebrate both Idul Fitri (the post-fasting month celebration) and Christmas. Most of the time, I even do the tree decorating," she added.
When they married, Ariani and John faced resistance from their families, with each demanding their child's spouse convert.
"I come from a Sundanese family who is fanatic about religion. I, however, am more liberal. I thought as long as my future husband loves me, is responsible and has a high sense of humanity ... that's all that matters," Ariani said.
Her family also told her that she would be "committing adultery" as Islam forbids a Muslim woman to marry a non-Muslim.
"I thought that it's actually God's intention that I met my husband and married him. I feel that it's just not possible that we're going to be damned by Him," she asserted.
They decided at the outset of their relationship that they would not make differences in religion an issue.
They have also committed that neither of them will try to persuade their children but instead leave them free them to choose the religion that is most suitable for them. The couple's first two children are Muslims while the youngest is Christian.
Religious ties, however, are hard to break. When pressed, Ariani admitted that deep down both her and her husband hoped their spouse would convert.
"But forcing it will do no good. Besides, we're growing older. Let's just be realistic," she said.
Ariani is saddened by the stories of marriages crumbling under family pressure, and of parents disowning their children.
She also knows that no legislation can change attitudes.
"It's such a pity because religion is one's personal right. Everyone has their freedom, it's their personal relationship with God," she said.

Labels: legal, social affairs

Posted by hera at 3:20 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Street children live hard life with laughter, jokes

Thursday, June 14, 2001
By Hera Diani

JAKARTA (JP): If you are riding on a bus, you might encounter young street poets. They can recite romantic poetry or make you laugh with funny pantun (traditional poetry).
One such street poet is Januari, 21. He said he had a collection of over 100 pantun and poetry of his own composition.
Check out one of them: Jangan suka makan kuaci/Kuaci itu makanan kampret/Jangan suka godain banci/Banci itu teteknya karet.
Free translation: Never try to eat watermelon seeds as only bats eat them/Do not try to seduce transvestites as their breasts are made of rubber.
"I have another one," Januari said, and then recited one about his willingness to die as long as he can have a Batak (an ethnic group from Tapanuli, North Sumatra) girl.
"Because Batak girls are pretty," he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday at the Setia Kawan shelter for street children in Pademangan, North Jakarta.
The shelter has been Januari's home for the past several months. He is an orphan, and has been living on the streets and earning money as a street singer/poet since he left elementary school.
He said he had taken driving lessons and hoped to get a job as a taxi driver soon.
But at 21, Januari is neither a child nor a teenager.
"Eighteen is the maximum age for street children who are allowed to stay here. But we have been tolerating people up to 21 years of age," said Ari Widianto, one of eight social workers at the shelter.
He said since the shelter was opened last October, there had been around 160 street children who had used the facility. But presently only 15 to 20 children actually live in the small house.
"Those who live here are homeless, orphans or whose parents live in other cities or provinces," Ari said.
The shelter is the third established by the Sekar Foundation, which was once run by the now defunct City Social Affairs office. The other two shelters are located in Tanjung Priok, also in North Jakarta.
It is among 26 shelters in the city which are funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
"We have several programs here, depending on the children," Ari said.
Street children who have parents and go to school are given scholarships worth Rp 35,000 per child a month, and this is limited to 80 children.
"The homeless or orphans can go to school too, but most of them don't want to. So, we pay for their vocational training like driving and repairing cars or air conditioners," Ari said, saying that the number that can be afforded such training is limited to 40 children.
ADB gives the city's shelters some Rp 313 million annually (US$28,454), which is given every three months.
"The problem is the fund often arrives late. So we have to use our own money first. It's hard now because we have to pay for their tuition and state final exam fee, even though officially there is no fee for the exams. However, some schools still charge a fee," Ari said.
Ari said it was most difficult to teach street children discipline or even to shower.
"Sometimes we have to pour water over them to make them take a shower. But later, they start to realize it," Ari said.
Another problem is teaching them the dangers of consuming alcohol, he added.
"They often came home drunk and play with sharp weapons. We sometimes hand them over to the police, who will beat them up so that they will learn a lesson," Ari said.
There are an estimated 50,000 children in the capital who are categorized as street children, based on a study by Atmajaya University in 1999.
They are all below 16 years, and earning money as candy vendors, street singers, car cleaners, shoe shiners and beggars.
Some 300 street children use the shelters in the city, but only about 100 of them actually live in the 40 or so shelters available.
You will notice that the children at the Setia Kawan shelter, who are mostly about 13 to 15 years old, look thin and smaller than their age. However, they talk and joke like adults, and even smoke kretek (clove) cigarettes.
But when one of them played a Sherina (child singer) tape, everyone sang and danced around the living room, which had blue walls and blue carpeting.
As the clock struck 3:30 p.m., one of them shouted, "Dora Emon!" and turned on the television to watch the popular Japanese animation.
All of them then sat around to watch the show, without even blinking their eyes and with their mouths slightly open. Some children were still puffing on their cigarettes.
"It's very funny," Nur, 13, commented.
Guess, they are children after all.

Labels: social affairs, urban

Posted by hera at 3:29 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Seribu Island residents living in dark times

Tuesday, May 29, 2001
By Hera Diani

TIDUNG ISLAND, Seribu Islands (JP): Residents of Tidung island and several of its neighbors in the Seribu Islands are returning to the Dark Ages, literally.
For three months and several days now, electricity has not reached the island -- a two-hour drive, plus another two-and-a-half-hour boat cruise away from Jakarta -- due to technical problems.
Although many have submitted complaints to the state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), electricity has yet to illuminate the islands.
"As a result, our children can't study at night, although they're facing final examinations," Abdul Rasyid from the Seribu Islands Community Alliance (AMKS) told The Jakarta Post here on Saturday.
"Theft has also become rampant here. They only steal clothes or chickens, though, but still it's disturbing," he added.
People at the islands are now dependent on the few diesel machines owned by some residents.
"But we have to pay an extra Rp 3,000 (US$0.27) a night. Besides, the lights are very dim because the few machines are providing electricity for many houses," said Marina, a resident.
The machines light only the houses, while the rest of the area remains dark.
Meanwhile, Maesaroh from nearby Kelapa island, an hour's boat ride away from Tidung island, said that electricity lights parts of his island on an alternate basis.
"The western part first, then the eastern part or vice versa. But the tariff has increased," she said, without elaborating.
Maesaroh and Abdul were speaking on the sidelines of a three-day discussion on the problems of living in the Seribu Islands conducted by the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi Jakarta), which ended on Sunday.
The meeting, attended by representatives from several islands, councillors and other government's officers, aimed at finding solutions over problems faced by residents of the Seribu Islands.
Electricity is not the only issue, as garbage, environmental damage, clean water, health and education facilities were among things raised in the discussion.
The main causes are lack of qualified human resources and low accessibility from Jakarta on the Java mainland.
The Seribu Islands have an area of 69,976 square kilometers with 9,214 square kilometers, or 13 percent of it as land.
The Islands are currently divided into four villages: Panggang island (with 13 small islands) Untung Jawa island (16 small islands), Tidung island (16 small islands) and Kelapa island (65 islands), all of which are under the North Jakarta mayoralty.
Of the total of 106 islands, at least 11 of the Seribu Islands have been known for years as favorite resorts for wealthy Jakartans, expatriates, tourists and scuba divers.
Data shows that the resorts have so far lured an average of some 22,000 visitors per year, although there is no data revealing the revenue obtained from the visitors.
A total of 17,944 people inhabit the islands, with 71 percent of them fishermen, mostly impoverished.
North Jakarta mayoralty recorded in 1999 that most of the residents are only elementary school graduates.
In Tidung for example, of some 5,000 people, around half of them did not even graduate from elementary school; some 30 percent are elementary school graduates; 7.5 percent are junior high school graduates; 6.3 percent are senior high school graduates and only 2.2 percent are college graduates.
Tjuk Sudono, councillor of Commission D for public works, development and environmental affairs proposed the establishment of mobile schools and also a mobile hospital.
He asked the residents to be more assertive and not just wait for help from the government.
"I must admit that the city administration is very slow in responding to its people's demands. So, urge them. Write letters, don't just wait," said Tjuk of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction.
The status of the islands will be elevated to an administrative regency, and therefore, the people should ask for more facilities such as hospitals and schools, he said.
Environment
The Seribu Islands is also facing critical environmental damage.
Ahmad Safrudin, chief executive of Walhi Jakarta, said that only 12 percent of the coral reefs in the area are still in good condition.
"As the result, the number of fish is decreasing. The indication is fishermen's complaints, saying that they used to catch fish easily around their islands. But now they have to sail quite far to get the fish," he told the Post.
Other threats are abrasion and over-exploitation of the sands, which caused several islands to be washed away by the sea.
Since 1983, as many as 10 islands have vanished in stages from the waters, and studies say that many more could follow.
He pointed out the development of a resort on Serabu island, that had expanded the size of the island from only 2.9 hectares originally to six hectares now as a result of reclamation, using soil and land from other nearby islands.
It's actually forbidden to build a resort on the island, he added, because it's included in the main zone of sea park conservation.
"But you know, as long as the investors pay ... Whereas the consequences are very dangerous for the environment," Ahmad said.

Labels: social affairs

Posted by hera at 3:30 AM | Permalinks | Comments

Traumatic May riots still haunt people

Monday, May 14, 2001
By Hera Diani

JAKARTA (JP): On this day back in 1998, the capital was paralyzed as thousands of rioters poured forth on to the streets in an orgy of violence the left hundreds of buildings and vehicles ransacked and burned.
The sky was black with smoke from the fires blazing in countless shopping centers, banks, automobile showrooms, discotheques, shops and offices at different locations all over the capital, as well as the neighboring cities of Tangerang and Bekasi.
The three days of rioting from May 13 to May 15 claimed over 1,000 lives, injured many others and left most residents living in fear. Dozens of Chinese Indonesian women were also reportedly raped, gang-raped or sexually assaulted.
More than 5,000 buildings, 1,000 cars and 500 motorcycles were also set ablaze, causing estimated losses of Rp 2.5 trillion.
Fast-forward to May 2001. Three years have passed but the traces of the riots can still be found.
Many badly damaged and abandoned buildings, and shops with broken windows, are still to be seen in places such as the Glodok business center in West Jakarta.
This place was one of the main targets of the vandalism and looting as many Chinese Indonesians ran their businesses and lived in the area.
Many shop owners here still recall the horror of the riots. One such person is Hendra, the owner of the Edison household goods store in Harco Glodok.
"That day, we already knew about the riots (which were extensively reported by local private television and radio stations), so most of us closed up our shops. But that didn't stop them (the mobs) from looting us," Hendra told The Jakarta Post last week.
Not only the shop, Hendra said, looters also broke into his house in nearby Jembatan Dua.
"Thank God, though, they didn't hurt us. They only took our belongings," he said, adding that the riot caused him over Rp 1 billion (US$90,090.1) in material losses.
Hendra said that 90 percent of the Chinese Indonesian residences in the area were attacked and looted.
"The rest were missed because they lived in small alleys," he said, admitted that he and his family had fled the city.
Cing Cing, the owner of a small shop across the street from Hendra's, was among those who escaped the looting.
"I closed the shop and went home because I'd seen the riots on TV," she told the Post.
The upper part of her shop's facade, which is glass, has still not been repaired.
"I rent this place, and we only occupy the first floor. Besides, what's the use of fixing the building up anyway? Another riot could occur anytime," Cing Cing said pessimistically.
Like Cing Cing's store, the nearby door knob and lock store, PD Ingat Terus, has also left the damaged parts of its facade unrepaired.
"Why bother? It's only wasting money. Look at the shop across the street. They fixed it, but the mob damaged it again," said a member of the store's staff.
Another shopping center which was damaged during the riots was Slipi Jaya, also in West Jakarta.
The place has reestablished itself and reopened almost a year ago, and no traces of the riots are now to be seen. But the memories of the store owners and security guards live on.
"It was horrible. This place was burned to the ground, only the basement parking lot was saved," said Muhardi, a security guard.
Hundreds of looters were ransacking the store and were running back and forth carrying their goods.
"But then a fire broke out and the looters became trapped," Muhardi said.
Many stores have since moved, he added, but several still exist, like the Singgalang jewelry store and the Top Star shoe store.
Ah Fi, owner of Top Star, said he hoped such riots would never happen again.
"I was unemployed for over two years until I finally reopened this store 10 months ago," he said.
Cing Cing and Hendra also voiced the sentiment in the hope that they would be able to finally repair their premises and not have to flee anymore.

Labels: social affairs, urban

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