Listening to Teenagers' Problems from Aceh to Papua, Ganjar Wants More People to Hear Children's Voices

SEMARANG - Three teenagers from Aceh, Papua, and Central Java shared their complaints with Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo at the opening of the 2023 National Children's Forum at the BPSDMD Complex in Central Java Province, Semarang City, Thursday 20 July.

All three spoke out about violence or sexual abuse of children, proper education, and early marriage.

The three teenagers are Celya from Takengon Nangroe Aceh Darussalam, Darwis Eka Setiadi from Merauke, South Papua, and Nayla from Purworejo, Central Java. In front of Ganjar, Celya conveyed the problem of violence or sexual harassment that is still happening in Aceh. Ironically, based on the data she got, there is still a lot of sexual abuse committed by minors.

"Cases of sexual harassment by children are increasing. So the victims are children, and the perpetrators are also children. Some (performed) between friends, some (performed) by strangers or met on the street," said Celya, who is a student at SMAN 1 Takengon to Ganjar.

The next complaint came from the son of Merauke, South Papua, named Darwis Eka Setiadi. He conveyed to Ganjar, based on the available data, Highlands Papua, Central Papua, and South Papua were the provinces or regions with the lowest elementary-high school completion rates in Indonesia.

"Children dropping out of school are caused firstly by economic problems, then secondly by lack of encouragement from the family. I see in Papua that children who don't go to school are left by their parents. Whether they want to go to school or not is up to them, the important thing is that the parents are willing to pay for it. This needs an approach, perhaps from the Provincial Government can send it to tribal leaders in Papua to socialize that education is important," said the Merauke 3 SMAN student.

Finally, a child from Purworejo, Central Java, named Nayla, said that cases of early marriage in Purworejo are still high. In 2022 there are 228 cases of child marriage. This happened because of economic problems, education, and parental coercion. Therefore, children's forums must be able to voice and campaign so that early marriages can be prevented.

"Of course, I will invite them to report their problems to the authorities. There are still many friends in Purworejo who don't know if they can convey their rights and what they want and convey them," said Nayla when asked by Ganjar about what should be done to solve the problem.

The Governor of Central Java, Ganjar Pranowo, said that what the three children from Aceh, Papua and Central Java said was a sample of the problems that are still happening around them. Then in this national children's forum representatives of children from all over Indonesia will formulate all the issues. The formulation will later be submitted to President Joko Widodo.

"Earlier we took a sample. It turned out that there was violence against children, early marriage, and access to school. This is what concerns us that these children really need to have space opened up for them to speak and convey aspirations for children their age," said Ganjar after the program.

Especially in Central Java itself, continued Ganjar, children have been given space to express their aspirations. One way is to involve representatives of the children's forum in the Musrenbang. The goal is for more people to hear the voices of children.

"So why in Central Java do we always try to encourage them to be involved in every Musrenbang, they participate, in fact, so that more people listen. It turns out that voices are far from every corner of Indonesia as is the reality that is happening and this is our concern."

"Hopefully, all decision-makers will listen to the voice of the children's forum," said Ganjar who came with his wife and mother of the Central Java Children's Forum, Siti Atikoh.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Bintang Puspayoga said that what the children said was a reality that is currently still happening. Regarding early marriage, there are many influencing factors, one of which is culture. For this reason, the assistance provided must be fair and the role of parents is important here.

"Relating to sexual violence is indeed our homework. There is not a day without the issue of sexual violence. And it is true that in West Aceh there has been a lot of violence involving victims of minors," she said.

He hopes that for the next three days, children from various regions in Indonesia can maximize their time. Especially to formulate children's voices and capacity building in national children's forum events.

"Indonesian children are lights for the nation. We believe your voices are valuable and your little feet will lead us all towards the Indonesia we aspire to be. You must inspire and continue to excel to become the pride of the nation," he said.