A street child inside a train car in Jakarta. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)
The city administration has pledged to improve its handling of the thousands of children living and working on the streets of the capital.
Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo announced on Monday that the city would sign a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) to tackle the issue.
He said the city needed assistance from government agencies and private organizations because getting children off the streets was a complex problem.
According to data from the Jakarta Social Affairs Agency, there are more than 4,000 children living and working on the streets. The agency has identified 52 areas around Jakarta where the children usually gather, including Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta, Cilandak in South Jakarta and Tomang in West Jakarta.
Fauzi said operations to round up the children offered only a temporary solution, and that more comprehensive measures were needed to resolve the issue.
“Rounding up the kids is not the answer to the problem,” he said. “We need better programs to empower and educate them, and we also need the central government’s help on this.”
Fauzi said the children needed to be given basic life skills and education to keep them off the streets permanently. He also said the city would re-evaluate its six homeless shelters for children, which are only able to accommodate a total of 1,200 children.
“Many of the children’s parents don’t have Jakarta identification cards, therefore it’s not only Jakarta’s problem but also the central government’s,” Fauzi said. “All stakeholders must take part in this.”
Wahyu Hartomo, a spokesman for the State Ministry for Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, told the Jakarta Globe that although there were yet to be formal discussions on the issue, the central government was willing to cooperate with Jakarta officials to help remove homeless children from the streets of the capital.
“Jakarta will be the pilot project,” he said. “We expect that the city will be street kid-free by 2011.”
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A street child in Central Jakarta. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
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