7-Year-Old Children In Sampang Madura Are Fiance, BKKBN Conducts Socialization

Head of BKKBN Hasto Wardoyo (left) together with the Head of BKKBN Representative for East Java Province Maria Ernawati (right)/DOK ANTARA

Head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) Hasto Wardoyo said that his party had accompanied the seven-year-old child who was the victim in Sampang, Madura. "BKKBN and the Sampang Regency Government have come to accompany and educate. The BKKBN has visited the field, it turns out that the age of seven has been planned, of course we have to disseminate information to him, his family and the community and to the local government so that this is not considered normal," said Hasto, who was met in Jakarta, Antara, Thursday, April 25. Previously, the case of the alleged child's engagement in Sampang, Madura, East Java, had become a topic of conversation among netizens and the video was circulating on social media. Hasto explained, at the age of seven, the child is certainly not physically ready both physiologically and biologically, even the menstrual phase is normal at the age of eight. "Never mind fianc and marriage or even sexual intercourse, seven years of menstruation is no longer normal. Women should have eight years of menstruation at the earliest, before that the name is precognitional meditation (earlypubertas), and that growth is disrupted, they must be treated by doctors so that their menstruation is delayed a little," he said. He emphasized the importance of marriage age maturity and the importance of education to families. "Mennstruation alone cannot be less than eight years old, let alone getting married, this is still seven years old. So, education is important," he said. Meanwhile, Head of BKKBN Representative for East Java Province Maria Ernawati explained that her party had also directly visited the family concerned in Sampang Regency, Madura. He mentioned that one of the factors causing the engagement was the thick culture adopted by the Madura people. "Regarding the virality of the child's engagement incident yesterday, I immediately visited the family concerned, because from a cultural point of view, there are four cultures in East Java, now of course there are very various cultural backgrounds," said Erna. He explained that in East Java there is Arek Culture that is embraced by the people around Surabaya, then Pandalungan Culture in the Horse or Madura Tapal area, as well as Mantaraman Culture in the border areas of East Java and Central Java. "Regarding this child marriage, the factors of each culture are different, in the Madura and Tapal areas, the usually factors for child marriage are higher than Arek and Mataraman," he said. For this reason, he emphasized that the East Java Regional Government and BKKBN have collaborated to provide psychological assistance.

"If the culture has gone viral and is carried out, then what we need to do is provide assistance to children's psychology, then their parents must commit to this engagement at the ideal age," he said.