JAKARTA, Nov 10 (Bernama) -- Indonesians are urged to actively involve in
helping the government to combat children trafficking as the rate of the crime
in the country is still high, an expert told China''s Xinhua news agency in a
recent exclusive interview.
"We still need seriousness in aiding our government to stop this
practice. The government is serious enough doing this but people must involve
themselves in the effort," said Seto Mulyadi, chief patron of Indonesia''s
National Commission for Children Protection at his house in South Jakarta.
He dared people to report to police if they see something suspicious
related to crime against children.
"We have to be suspicious if we see, for example, a man walking with
three or four pale and tense-faced children. We have to report this to police,"
he said.
Data provided by the country''s Study Center for Children Protection shows
that this year more than 150,000 children in Indonesia become victims of
commercial sexual exploitation. The action, he said, is a part of awareness on
children protection. According to him, Indonesians'' awareness on children
protection is getting bigger nowadays.
"Violence against children is still high but awareness on children
protection is getting bigger," said Mulyadi.
According to Mulyadi, the awareness on children protection started to
grow in Indonesia when for the first time the country ratified a convention on
children rights in 1990.
And, he recalled, in 2007 the late President Soeharto stated the National
Movement on Children Protection while commemorating the National Children Day in
the year.
"In 1998, the government has established the Children Protection Agency
chaired by Social Minister Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana. However, due to a reforms
movement (that toppled the Soeharto regime), the agency was handed over to
people who changed the name to the National Commission of Children Protection,"
he said.
He added that through a long journey, Indonesia enacted a law on children
protection.
"This is a good development. However, phenomenon of violence against
children is like an iceberg and this is a part of cultural tradition," he said.
He took an example of local tradition in East Nusa Tenggara province
called ''in the end of rattan, there is gold''.
"So, in some cultures, violence against children is regarded normal," he
said.
Mulyadi said that he is actively involved in the campaign against
violence on children.
"When I make the campaign, I often receive complaints as people say that
I encourage them to spoil children. They think that the opposite of violence
against children is spoiling them. They say that they must use violence approach
to educate children. This paradigm must be eradicated," he said.
-- BERNAMA
RT