The President Prabowo Subianto and the Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka were officially inaugurated on Sunday (20/10/2024). Tia Subekti, S.IP., M.A., a lecturer in Government Science Study Program, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Universitas Brawijaya (UB) conveyed a number of hopes and concerns, especially related to policies for mothers and children.
From several studies that have been conducted, Tia emphasized the importance of serious attention from the government to the problem of nutrition and violence against children in Indonesia.
Tia highlighted the free lunch program as part of the government’s efforts to improve the nutrition of children in Indonesia. According to her, this program is good but there are other aspects that are more urgent.
“The government must be able to better guarantee the community’s accessibility to basic necessities that have high nutritional value. For example, maintaining price stability and availability of staple food stocks, so that there is no shortage,” she said.
She emphasized how Indonesia as an agricultural country should have an abundant supply of staple foods. However, in fact, there are still frequent shortages of staple foods, which makes it difficult for people to meet nutritional needs, especially for children.
In addition to the issue of nutrition, Tia also highlighted the increasing violence against children, which is widely discussed on social media.
“The government needs to have a high commitment to providing safe and friendly public spaces for women and children,” she said.
Tia regretted that many cases of violence against children occurred in educational institutions, such as schools, Islamic boarding schools, to orphanages and homes. Therefore, this UGM master’s alumna emphasized that the government must have instruments to handle this problem, both through firm policies, strict supervision and imposing severe sanctions on perpetrators of violence.
However, the results of field research that has been conducted show that there are still many institutions that do not have adequate control or complaint mechanisms if violence against children occurs.
From these problems, Tia Subekti emphasized the importance of steps regarding nutrition and violence against children to realize the vision of the Golden Indonesia 2045.
“Let us continue to be optimistic in welcoming the new government so that the Indonesian people can be more prosperous,” she concluded. (FISIP PR/ UB PR/ Trans. Iir)
