Pandemic pushes more kids into work in Indonesia

For the past year, Indonesian teenager Amir (not his real name) has been working as a porter at a fish auction centre near Paotere port in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

The 17-year-old vocational school student often skips virtual classes to work, earning a day's wage of between 30,000 and 50,000 rupiah (S$2.80 to S$4.70) for over six hours of labour.

His income helps his mother, a snack vendor, who must make both ends meet as his father was laid off soon after the Covid-19 pandemic struck Indonesia last March.

"My job is hard, but what else can I do? I need to make a living for my family," he told The Straits Times, adding that he wanted his three younger siblings to be able to focus on their studies.

Covid-19 has infected almost 1.4 million people and killed 37,757 in Indonesia as at yesterday. The pandemic has also pushed 2.8 million more Indonesians into poverty and driven the poverty rate to its highest level since March 2017, according to Statistics Indonesia.

Some 27.6 million were living below the poverty line in September last year, when the poverty rate surged to 10.2 per cent. The rate was 9.2 per cent a year before.

An estimated four million children work in the world's fourth-most populous nation of 270 million. Of this figure, about 1.8 million are deemed to be undertaking the worst forms of child labour, which are dangerous jobs.

The actual rise in their numbers is hard to pinpoint, said Mr Achmad Marzuki, executive director of Jarak, a network of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) tackling child labour issues

Rising poverty is indicative of more being pushed into child labour, he said. The International Labour Organisation said some studies show that a 1 percentage point rise in poverty leads to at least a 0.7 per cent increase in child labour in certain countries.

"The trend is apparent if we look at facts on the ground. There have been 'silver men' everywhere," he said, referring to street performers who cover themselves in metallic paint from head to toe to beg for money. "There have been more children working in agriculture and fisheries, too."

Ten-year-old Jonathan Sigalingging, who was working as a silver man last August, was killed when he was hit by a truck in Medan, North Sumatra.

In Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, NGO Tunas Alam Indonesia Foundation found that some children had taken physically demanding jobs, such as operating tractors and carrying agricultural produce.

Such reports are in line with observations by the National Child Protection Commission (KPAI) in 20 cities and regencies, including Batam, Medan and Tangerang.

It found that the worst types of child labour had grown in form.

For instance, street children who used to sell newspapers, snacks and mineral water became silver men, clowns and buskers after the pandemic hit.

KPAI commissioner for child trafficking and exploitation Ai Maryati Solihah said Covid-19 posed a challenge to Indonesia's goal to end child labour by next year. She noted there had been no policy to specifically address the child labour situation amid the outbreak.

"It is assumed that the situation is normal, while actually the pandemic has created complexity in child labour," she said, adding that the risk of exploitation of child workers and human trafficking is now higher.

Mr Asep Gunawan, director of child and woman labour norm supervision at the Manpower Ministry, said that his office would issue policies to address the child labour situation amid the pandemic, but did not elaborate.

Ms Keumala Dewi, executive director of the Centre of Child Study and Protection, which works in five provinces, including North Sumatra and Aceh, said: "Some children worked after school prior to the pandemic.

"But during the pandemic, they must work from morning to evening to fulfil a target or to get extra cash for their families as their parents have lost their jobs."

Amir, who used to work only on weekends pre-pandemic, said: "I hope the pandemic will soon be over and the economy will recover, then I can return to school."