Meeting With BKKBN, Commission IX Of The House Of Representatives Asks Companies To Give Fathers Space At Important Moments Of Family

Member of Commission IX DPR RI, Netty Prasetiyani Aher. (Nailin-VOI)

JAKARTA - Member of Commission IX DPR RI, Netty Prasetiyani Aher responded to the statement of the Ministry of Population and Development of Family/BKKBN regarding the high number of fathers in families in Indonesia. He encouraged companies or workplaces to provide space for fathers to attend important family moments.

Netty assessed that strengthening family resilience is very important in the midst of digitalization and increasingly complex economic demands.

"The issue of theft has been like an iceberg. Children lose their father figure not because they died or were divorced, but because their father is too busy working, away from the child's life, or handing over all matters of parenting to mothers and gadgets," said Netty, Wednesday, July 16.

"For this reason, family resilience must continue to be strengthened, especially in the midst of the challenges of digitalization flows and increasingly complex economic demands," he continued.

Netty also encouraged concrete cross-sectoral steps in strengthening the role of fathers in parenting. This is important to build relationships between individuals in the family environment.

"We are not only talking about fathersless, but about family fatigue and loss of meaning when building relations between individuals in it," said the legislator from the West Java VIII electoral district.

According to Netty, the father's involvement is crucial in the formation of children's character, confidence, and mental health. He said various studies showed children raised with an active father's presence did not easily fall into deviant behavior.

"If we want Indonesia Gold 2045 to materialize, then we have to make sure the children today do not grow up with inner wounds and lose a father figure at home," he said.

Therefore, as a member of the Commission in the DPR in charge of population and family affairs, Netty asked the government to implement a more flexible and favorive father leave policy.

"This is so that fathers can be involved in parenting from the start," he said.

In addition, Netty assessed that there needs to be a national campaign related to the role of the father. This campaign, he said, needs to be echoed not only during national family days or the first day of school.

"Companies and agencies must provide flexibility for fathers at important family moments," he said.

"The fulfillment of children in the family is teamwork. The state must be present to ensure that fathers and mothers have a fair space in contributing to raising a healthy generation of their body and soul," concluded the member of the PKS faction of the DPR RI.

Previously, the Ministry of Population and Family Development/BKKBN echoed the "father deliver" movement on the first day of school, Monday, July 14. The movement was made because some teenagers in Indonesia are said to have grown up without the presence of a father or fatherless figure.

"One of the problems is 20.9 percent of teenagers lose their father figure or called fatherless," said the Minister of Population and Family Development/Head of BKKBN, Wihaji.