Indonesia: Democracy and the Promise of Good Governance

8. Children, Welfare and Protection: A New Policy Framework?

138 8 Children, Welfare and Protection: A New Policy Framework? Sharon Bessell Introduction Over the past decade, Indonesia has faced a series of shocks—economic, social, political and humanitarian—that have adversely affected child welfare. The economic and social shocks resulting from the financial crisis of 1997–98 had deep effects that continue to be felt. The 2004 Aceh tsunami and the 2006 earthquake in Yogyakarta resulted in humanitarian crises in which children were especially vulnerable. Meanwhile, ongoing problems such as high infant mortality, low retention rates from primary to junior secondary school, and the issue of protection of children without parental or familial support have continued to challenge policy makers. The transition to democracy, rarely considered for its impact on children , has also had a marked effect on child welfare and child protection . Greater commitment to human rights on the part of the national government, at least rhetorically, has seen the introduction of a range of new policies that have been influenced by international concepts of human rights. In line with this new direction, there has been a rethinking of approaches to child welfare and child protection, with the relevant policies giving serious consideration to children’s human rights for the first time. There are, of course, strong contradictory trends in policy in Indonesia, particularly given the interplay (and occasional clash) of democratisation and decentralisation forces. While the national government has enacted several laws that align the policy agenda for children more closely with human rights principles, particularly those set down Children, Welfare and Protection   139 in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, policy and legislation at the local level is more conservative, and at times even hostile to the concept of rights-based policy for children. While recognising the significance of local policy discourse for children ’s welfare and protection, I do not deal with these issues in this chapter . Rather, I aim to provide an assessment of the policy framework for children at the national level. Decentralisation has reshaped the social policy landscape in Indonesia and empowered local policy makers to an extent unimaginable a decade ago. Nevertheless, the national framework remains critical in providing an overarching framework for child welfare and protection. The Policy Framework for Child Welfare Law No. 4/1979 on Child Welfare While education and child health were consistent features of the New Order’s social policy agenda, the regime’s child welfare policy was weak. Little attention was given to children’s issues beyond a narrow focus on extending basic schooling and lowering the country’s disturbingly high infant mortality rates. Child protection in particular received almost no attention from policy makers. Policy on juvenile justice, children in institutions or without family support, child abuse and child labour was either non­existent or wholly inadequate. In 1979, designated the International Year of the Child by the United Nations, Indonesia passed its first piece of legislation designed specifically to promote the welfare of children. Law No. 4/1979 on Child Welfare applied to all persons under the age of 21 who had not been married. It was primarily concerned with ‘the satisfaction of the child’s basic needs’ (article 1.1b). Adopted almost three decades ago and still in force, the child welfare law is a product of the time in which it was drafted. As Iwaniec and Hill (2000: 250) point out, the 1990s represented a watershed for social policy on children around the world. There was a sharp departure from welfarist approaches focusing on neglect, destitution and anti-social behaviour among children—as in the child welfare law—to rhetorical concern about child protection and taking account of children’s views. Before the 1990s, ideas about the human rights of children and their role as social actors rather than citizens in the making had little traction. Thus it is not surprising that these concepts are nowhere to be found in the child welfare law. The law does refer to the rights of the child, but those rights are carefully circumscribed and are limited to the provision of basic care and services necessary for child development. In line with New Order 140   Sharon Bessell constructions of childhood (Bessell 1998), the emphasis is on the development of future citizens. This is articulated in the opening paragraph of the law, which states: Children are the potential successors of the nation’s ideals, which were laid down by the...