Caring for an aging population with better policies, social awareness

Jakarta (ANTARA) – The government commemorates National Elderly Day on May 26 by providing assistance to thousands of elderly citizens.

Apart from receiving free treatment, including cataract surgery, several elderly people were also assisted in registering unregistered marriages and making electronic identity cards.

They need help for several reasons, such as having entered retirement without a pension fund, experiencing economic vulnerability, or living alone in dire conditions.

Like other countries, along with improving public health and life expectancy, Indonesia is experiencing an increase in the number of elderly people, along with the demographic bonus which is expected to reach its peak in 2030.

According to the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), population aging is experienced by eight provinces, four of which are on the most populous island in the country, Java.

The Central Statistics Agency noted that the percentage of the elderly population will reach 11.75 percent in 2023, an increase of 1.27 points compared to 10.48 percent in the previous year. The percentage is expected to approach 20 percent by 2045, when the country celebrates 100 years of independence.

To overcome this problem, the government has prepared policies to create an elderly population that is independent, healthy and dignified, in line with the improvement in population health so that the number of elderly people continues to increase.

Several government policy directions regarding the elderly population include preparing for social and economic retirement.

The government will exploit the economic potential of the elderly population by making them both consumers and producers, which is also known as the “silver economy”.

Apart from that, so that they are more economically independent, the elderly will be assisted in finding employment opportunities that suit their abilities and needs.

This policy will encourage sustainable consumption among the elderly to prevent a spike in health spending in old age and increase investment in human resources among the younger generation.

The Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas) stated that longer life expectancy must be supported by a healthy life expectancy rate so as to increase productivity.

Longer life expectancy means a need to have more savings, with the expectation that social protection will cover pension benefits and long-term care for the elderly.

Caring for parents

Apart from government policies that encourage benefits for the elderly, Indonesian people must also increase their awareness of caring for and protecting the elderly.

At an event commemorating National Elderly Day in North Aceh, Aceh, Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini emphasized that leaving the elderly in nursing homes is not Indonesian culture.

“This is a concept imported from other cultures,” he said. “I believe that these cultural practices are not in harmony with our cultural practices.”

Rismaharini admitted that nursing homes were able to accommodate elderly people who had been abandoned by their families.

However, dependence on services provided by nursing homes may make people neglect the need to care for their parents and tend to entrust and leave them in the care of others.

“Is that good? Our nation and religion don’t teach us to do that,” he stressed.

Abandoning parents goes against Indonesian cultural values, he stressed.

I have read the reports and tried to identify the reasons why people abandon their parents. I found that the reasons are not limited to economic issues. In fact, there are successful people who don’t visit their parents, he said.

For this reason, he emphasized the importance of instilling the values ​​of caring for the elderly in society from an early age so that these values ​​can be passed on to their children and grandchildren.

Rismaharini appealed to all relevant stakeholders to pay special attention to the need to educate children on how to treat the elderly well in an effort to reduce the number of neglected elderly people.

He emphasized that optimizing the role of the elderly in society in Indonesia can be achieved if family members also play a role in caring for and loving them.

“Let’s pay more attention to older people,” he stressed. “Why? Because, without them, we are nothing. Without our parents, without our teachers, and without other parents who used to guide us, we are nothing.”

Meanwhile, Director of Productive Population and Elderly Health at the Ministry of Health, Nida Rohmawati, said that her party had taken four actions to support the empowerment of the elderly, the first of which was the eradication of ageism which includes thoughts and actions towards society based on perceptions of age.

The second step is to create an elderly-friendly environment, the third step is integrated care for the elderly, and the fourth is long-term care for the elderly.

So far, Indonesia has taken third steps, for example by initiating Simple Health Checks for the Elderly (SKILAS).

Through these initiatives and better policies that reintegrate senior citizens into society, Indonesia can handle its aging population well, supporting its goal of becoming a prosperous and developed country.

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Editor: Anton Santoso
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