•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Makassar. About 20 children have claimed an orphanage owner and his wife starved and beaten them.

They have told police at the Somba Opu subprecinct in Gowa district that at one point they had not been fed for four days, while on other occasions they had received just instant noodles. The food had expired, causing the children to vomit.

The orphans, aged from 5 to 17, were escorted to the police station on Wednesday by orphanage worker M Hussein.

They told police Aisah and Abdul Azis, of the state-subsidized Auliah Orphanage, had frequently beaten them without reason and had once starved them for four days.

“The children in their statement point out they felt tortured, and suffered a lot in that orphanage,” local police chief Kasri said.

He said the case would be transferred to the Women and Child Protection Division because the subprecinct did not have a specific division dealing with child-related crimes.

“I have recommended the children immediately get physical examinations at the nearest hospital,” Kasri said.

The children stayed at the police station on Wednesday night before being taken in by Hussein.

When contacted, Aisah denied the allegations of the children, whom she said had been under her care for five years. She said an outsider had encouraged the orphans to complain and malign she and her husband.

“They have been provoked to file a police report by another party,” Aisah told the Jakarta Globe at the Auliah Orphanage on Jalan Sultan Hasanuddin Gowa.

She refused, however, to say who that person was.

“Nothing stated in the report is true,” Aisah said. “It is also not true that we never fed them. We have enough rice stored in our barn. So it makes no sense at all to be accused of that kind of action.”

Aisah said she and her husband were ready to face the police should they be called in.

The orphanage was built in 1990 and has provided shelter to children from West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi.

The National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) has reported increasing child abuse nationwide.

A total of 1,510 reports were filed in 2007, 1,826 in 2008, 1,998 2009 and 2,044 so far this year.

It warned the numbers were just part of the problem, as many cases were not reported.

Commission chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait said poverty played a big role. “One’s economic standing effects one’s psychology and that leads to a stressful condition,” he said.

Also many of the perpetrators were close relatives, like parents, siblings and grandparents who are economically dependent.

“Children are victimized because they are the weakest person in the home,” Arist said.

Arist said many of the perpetrators were women involved in prostitution. “It is a devil’s circle,” he said. “Women are victims but also perpetrators.”

But it was unfair to just blame women for the abuse. “The state does not have children’s issues as a top priority,” Arist said.