Not fair on the Children!

We all know that there are literally thousands of "street urchins" in Jakarta, I had always thought that family poverty prevented them from education.

While this may be so, another reason was discussed..........




A 7-year-old girl sat in her mother's lap by a railroad in Palmerah, West Jakarta. She was tainted by dirt that had been smeared across her little face, hands and bare feet.

Other children, between the ages of one and 13, were sitting near the mother and daughter. "They all play and sleep here," Munah, the 7-year-old's mother, said. Across from the railroad, a tarpaulin was tied to a fence that runs between the road and the train tracks. "We sleep under the tent if it rains. If the sky's clear we just sleep anywhere under the moon,"

The mother of 10 said she did not fear for the safety of her children, who roam the streets as beggars during the day, without any form of identification, and sleep roofless at night. Munah lives by the railway with five of her children.

Three have died.

"Only one of my children has a birth certificate, the others don't. I have no money to make one," she said, adding that she did not have a birth certificate herself. Munah's husband, Saniman, said he had obtained a birth certificate for his eldest son before he entered boarding school in his hometown of Bogor.

This document cost Saniman Rp 150,000. "Nowadays, I don't even have money to buy proper food for my children, let alone pay for their birth certificates," Saniman said. Many other families living by the railroad have not been able to apply for birth certificates from the nearby sub-district office, thereby denying their children official documentation of their Indonesian citizenship.

"I don't have a Jakarta ID, so my child cannot request a birth certificate here. I have to go home to Jasinga (a district in Bogor) to make one," said Ilah, a fellow railroad dweller. Birth certificate applicants are required to provide individual ID's and family cards, as well as marriage documents.

According to 2004 data from the Central Statistics Agency, almost half of the children in Indonesia do not have birth certificates. However, the National Commission on Child Protection estimated this year that of the 85 million children in Indonesia, some 50 million do not have birth certificates.

In Jakarta, one in five children are without a birth certificate. Without birth certificates, these children are unable to prove to the state they are Indonesian citizens, which often results in them losing the right to free schooling. Reny Rebeka Haning, from the non-governmental organization Plan Indonesia, said life can be hazardous for children living without birth certificates.
"Especially for street children. They are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, child trafficking and child labor," she said, adding that children can also be married by their parents because without a birth certificate it is easy to lie about their age.

Saniman said his 19-year-old daughter had been married for five years and currently had three children. "She married when she was 14," he said, admitting to faking her age because she did not have a birth certificate.

Despite his poverty and lack of a home, even in his hometown of Bogor, Saniman said he hoped he could eventually provide birth certificates for all his children.

According to the 2006 Law on Civil Administration, the issuance of birth certificates should be free of charge. The law also states that the government should actively collect data on citizens vulnerable to omission from the civil administration system.

However, bylaws to support the implementation of the law have not yet been deliberated. Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency head Khamil Abdul Kadir said his office would not charge for the issuance of birth certificates once supporting bylaws are enacted. "As soon as the regulation is ready, we will also be ready," he said last week during a discussion on the issues surrounding birth certification.

The Home Ministry's Civil Registration Directorate is aiming to ensure that by 2011, all Indonesian children have a birth certificate. "We are expecting that day to come," Reny said

It’s fucking incredible that Indonesian Lawmakers can enact laws to counter such problems, yet, they cannot be enacted because local authorities, responsible for the creation of Bye-Laws will not adhere to the law because, yes you’ve guessed it, “revenue” is at stake.

Although little by little, the country at national level is setting things right, at local level the need to fill ones pockets still defines the countries dependence on corruption.

In the meantime, Indonesia’s future, the children are denied education.

Potentially 50 million of them to be precise!