---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- also: Ten million Indonesian children suffer malnutrition Jakarta Post 25 July 1999 RI children face uncertain future=20 Indonesian children have for the past few years witnessed excessive violence=20 around them. Many have been killed in armed conflicts in Aceh, Maluku, West=20 Kalimantan and East Timor. However, even a greater number are facing an=20 equally rough, if not worse, fate because they are forced to enter=20 prostitution or hard labor. In commemoration of National Children's Day on=20 July 23, The Jakarta Post reporters Ati Nurbaiti and Santi W.E. Soekanto and=20 correspondent Jupriadi explore the issue. JAKARTA (JP): Fifteen-year-old Ranti wept with pain when an elderly man=20 deflowered her at a brothel in Jakarta, but she managed to stop crying upon=20 being told he would pay her Rp 700,000 (US$106).=20 As it turned out, she received only Rp 50,000 because most of the money went=20 to her "Mama Yuyun" who took her and her friend Santi as new additions into=20 the collection of young girls between the ages of 14 to 20 at her brothel in=20 the Kota downtown area. Most of the "guests" here are men aged about 35 year= s=20 or older, who believe sleeping with teenage girls revive their virility and=20 signs of manhood.=20 The "Mama" insisted most of the money went to Ranti's father and a procurer=20 who brought the girls to Jakarta from a small West Java village where=20 parents, aunts and uncles, and even village officials prepare girls for=20 prostitution at an early age. Some mothers prefer to have their daughters=20 work as prostitutes rather than see them "laze around" at home.=20 "He (the elderly first client) told me that if I did it often enough, it=20 wouldn't hurt any more," Ranti told a researcher commissioned by the=20 International Program of the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), which is an=20 arm of the International Labor Organization.=20 "Every guest pays Mama between Rp 75,000 and Rp 100,000 for a date of up to=20 three hours. I didn't know how much I made because Mama took some of it for=20 my room and board," Ranti said.=20 Ranti went home when she felt she could no longer tolerate clients who=20 demanded that she do "perverse things", but she could not stay home for too=20 long because her mother nagged her to return and make money. She moved to=20 another brothel, where she got her first experience of venereal disease.=20 "I felt hot flashes, lots of pain down there," she said.=20 Ranti went back home, and her mother took her to a doctor who gave her three=20 injections. Within two weeks, she recovered, and her mother again sent her=20 away.=20 Santi recounted how her parents and elder sister Ira talked her out of=20 marriage with a poor mechanic when she was 14. Instead, Ira took her to a=20 procurer known by many locals as Pak Rahmat who then brought them both to=20 Jakarta.=20 "I knew I would get a lot of money because I was still a virgin, unlike Ira=20 who was already divorced," Santi said. "As far as I know, my father received=20 Rp 1 million from Pak Rahmat for allowing him to take me with him."=20 Santi's father then took the girl to the village official, who took note of=20 the brothel that Santi was being sent to and her alias.=20 "When I had my first guest, I cried, because he was so rough," Santi said. "= A=20 lot of blood came out of me."=20 The Mama gave her two days respite, before making her return to work where=20 she met her second guest, a 50-year-old man who wanted to be called Oom Roy=20 and bought Santi clothes and gave her big tips on subsequent visits.=20 Every month, Santi's parents came to collect up to Rp 750,000 from her. "I a= m=20 not afraid of the 'dirty disease' because I take herbal concoctions and wash=20 myself after receiving guests."=20 Ranti and Santi were among the seven prostituted children studied by the=20 researchers, who also studied five brothel owners, seven customers, 15=20 friends and relatives of the prostituted children and eight procurers in=20 Greater Jakarta, Indramayu in West Java, Surabaya and Banyuwangi in East=20 Java.=20 The ILO adopted in June the International Convention No. 182 on the=20 elimination of the worst forms of child labor, which it defines as, among=20 other things, "the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution,=20 for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances". Schools=20 School is, of course, out of the picture now for Ranti, Santi and others lik= e=20 her. But in some areas, school has become a nonoption, no matter how=20 temporarily, for children simply because there are no schools.=20 Some 15,000 children in the troubled regencies of East Aceh, North Aceh and=20 Pidie could not go back to class in the new academic year that began on July=20 19 because around 110 schools were burned down in conflicts between the=20 military and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).=20 Some Rp 15 billion would be needed to rebuild and repair the torched=20 buildings, Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud said.=20 But every second of precious time is being wasted and formal classes will no= t=20 be resumed for some time.=20 The list of child victims of violence is long. The Foundation of Indonesian=20 Children's Welfare (YKAI) says 64 children between the ages of six and 18=20 were killed in the Santa Cruz military shooting in Dili, East Timor, in 1991= .=20 In the clash between military personnel and followers of Warsidi, the leader=20 of a religious sect, 66 children between the ages of one and 18 allegedly=20 died.=20 In the May 1998 riots in Jakarta, one 13 year old and one eight-month-old=20 infant died of gunshot wounds, while 20 other children between the ages of 1= 2=20 and 17 died in burning buildings.=20 In the military shooting in Simpang KKA, Lhokseumawe, Aceh, on May 3, 1999,=20 eight children between the ages of six and 17 died of gunshot wounds, while=20 22 others were seriously injured. During the unrest on May 15, 1999, in=20 Ambon, two children reportedly died of gunshot wounds.=20 Child prostitutes and child victims of violence are indeed touchy subjects,=20 but activist Panji Putranto of IPEC pleads for attention for the majority of=20 children whose fate is never reported by the media. Some 70 percent of child=20 workers labor long and hard in rural areas, where their economic contributio= n=20 to their families is taken for granted.=20 These children do not go to school, but work in the fields, do chores at hom= e=20 and simply re-tread the path to poverty that their parents took before them.=20 The domestic child workers, at the tender age of 10, are taken to the homes=20 of richer folks where they serve their days away without adequate rest or=20 play, which is their right.=20 There are organizations and activists who strive to assist the child=20 prostitutes and street children, but the young people in rural areas are=20 often not as lucky. They will grow up and struggle to escape poverty by=20 seeking menial jobs in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia or Hong Kong.=20 One of the reasons there are no programs to help the silent majority is that=20 people simply do not see any problems, Panji said. "How can you raise noise=20 about a problem which people think is not a problem?" Panji said. "Many=20 people employ children as their servants and do not see it is wrong."=20 ---------------- Indonesian Observer Saturday, July 24, 1999=20 =20 Ten million Indonesian children suffer malnutrition SEMARANG (IO) =97 The long standing economic crisis in Indonesia since July=20 1997 has affected the lives of children nation wide, evidenced by the fact=20 that around 10 million of them are suffering from malnutrition. Unicef=92s Representative for Indonesia and Malaysia, Stephen J. Woodhouse,=20 said here yesterday that it is a serious problem because malnutrition not=20 only increases childrens=92 resistance to various diseases, but also results = in=20 reduced IQ levels.=20 =93There are about 10 million children suffering malnutrition. This means th= at=20 from 12,500 babies born everyday, 5,000 of those have the potential for lowe= r=20 IQ levels,=94 Woodhouse stated, here in the Central Java capital of yesterda= y.=20 According to the Unicef official, from this total of babies born in=20 Indonesia, 600 died from a a number of malnutrition related diseases.=20 He was speaking when he launched the Indonesia-Unicef partnership program to=20 improve child nutrition, which also involves the Family Welfare Movement=20 (PKK) and other non-governmental organizations in the country.=20 The program will provide high nutritious level food for babies and children=20 under 5 years old.=20 Woodhouse also commented that the integrated service for babies and mothers=20 (Posyandu), which are available in every Indonesian villages, have a main=20 role in helping improve the welfare of children and mothers, and their=20 presence should be revitalized.=20 According to Woodhouse, as many as 40 under-five-year olds die in Central=20 Java as a result of malnutrition and related diseases.=20 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 25 Jul 1999 jam 08:59:05 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
