The government is facing mounting pressure to provide stronger protection for senior citizens following the recent death of an elderly couple in Bogor, West Java, who were reportedly abandoned by their family.
Experts subsequently urged authorities to learn best practices from other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Japan. Earlier this month, Hans Tomasoa, 83, and his wife Rita Tomasoa, 73, were found dead at their home in Singajaya village, Jonggol district, Bogor regency, after not being seen for several days.
The neighbours assumed that the couple had been abandoned by their three sons who rarely visited despite living in the neighbouring cities of Bandung, Bekasi and Jakarta.
While their children quickly dismissed the allegations of neglect, this case has shed a light on the vulnerability of the elderly in Indonesia to violence, including abandonment, psychological and physical abuse as well as financial exploitation, with experts saying that most incidents still go unreported.
“The causes of such violence are diverse, but most of them cannot be separated from the unequal power relations between the elderly and more dominant figures within the family or outside,” Khotimun Sutanti of the Indonesian Women’s Association for Justice told The Jakarta Post last week.
Meanwhile, international aid group Oxfam in Indonesia said that the recurrence of violence against the elderly is a result of caregiving responsibilities falling mainly on people’s family members. Limited care services also contribute to the problem.
“Now, if we say that adult children don’t need to take care of their parents because the elderly have rights as citizens (to receive attention and care from the state), the reality is that state-owned nursing facilities are still far from sufficient,” Oxfam Indonesia country director Maria Lauranti said, adding that existing facilities mostly cater only to very poor and neglected elderly people without relatives.
“At the same time, the elder care industry is not yet developed and even though it does exist, it still targets middle-class families with very expensive services. So, adult children do not have the option to delegate the caregiving duties to professionals.”
Maria blamed the lack of social protection for the elderly on the fact that the government still focuses on providing assistance in sectors that directly contribute to the country’s economic growth such as education, health and employment.
While noting that the elderly no longer belong to the productive age group, Maria argued that the state’s failure to meet their need for care and treatment could hinder economic growth, as such conditions would force productive younger individuals within their respective families to stay at home for caregiving.
Many other countries have already built robust protection systems for their senior citizens, she added.
“Unlike in Indonesia, where caregiving duties still fall on the family and the community, in the UK, there is strong collaboration between the government and private sectors,” Maria said, adding that the private sector steps in to allow wider access to caregiving services.
Citing practices from other countries, Maria urged the Indonesian government to look at the caregiving industry more seriously by producing certified and qualified professionals.
By doing this, the country would not only grow economically but the elderly would also be cared for appropriately, she said. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
