REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, By: Nasihin Masha

Round and clear eyes of childhood. The chapped mouth and round cheeks. Her hair was curly. Engeline was so adorable and made us easy to sympathize. There was no reason for not loving the eight-year-old girl. However, the melancholy tale was more coloring the beautiful little girl. We all deserve to shed the tears.

She has the biological parents. They were still complete, despite having divorced. However, she was then "released" to be adopted when Engeline on the aged of three-day-old with the reasons that her parents did not have money for the cost of labor.

Her adoptive father, Douglas, a United States citizen – has long worked in the oil company - has passed away. The suffering began. She lived with a foster mother and adoptive sisters. She was also the holder of the inheritance rights of deceased adoptive father - the adoptive sisters were daughters of her adoptive mother before she married Douglas.

There was a complicated situation underlying this case. Police still have to parse and the court will be ensuring it. There were allegations of psychological problems of people suspected to be the culprit. Also there was the possibility to snatch the inheritance.

The point is, Engeline was killed brutally: neck entangled, full of bruises all over her body, and there were cigarette burn scars. This issue appeared with the beginning of lost news notifications on May, 16. They were complained and announced that Engeline was missing. Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister and Women Empowerment and Child Protection Minister were trying to come to the house were also "expelled". Finally, the police found the Engeline’s body buried behind the house on June 10.

From the news was also known that Engeline’s sufferings were already suspected by her school almost one last year. Engeline was often crying at school, shabby, smelly, and gloomy. Therefore, there was already an effort to save Engeline. However, the effort was just stuck.

If we may wish, this sadistic murder case did not need to happen. We still remember the case of parents who abandoned their children in May. The case in Cibubur, West Java, was revealed as there were complaints from neighbors. Police quickly caught the parents who became the college lecturers.

Children do not belong to their parents. Children are the property of mankind. They belong to the history and civilization. Children belong to themself. Therefore, the state must protect and be responsible for the children, because, they are the future of a nation, of a country. They are the future of civilization and the future of history.

The law should set points of a protection in movement and limits of parental authority dismissed. Indonesia has a child protection laws. Therefore, there is the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry and the National Commission for Child Protection of Indonesia. Education and Culture Ministry and Social Affairs Ministry also reach this issue. This country was on the right track.

However, formal law, formal institutions, and the existence of forces are not a guarantee of the workings of the system. They need the participation of the people, especially the community. Case of child neglect in Cibubur would not be revealed without complaints of the neighbors.

We are also witnessing the parents who employ their children to be singers on the streets and beggars. Or, they are not sent to school, but are forced to work and help their parent’s work. They lost childhood and even schools.

The Government has not been able to eradicate poverty, also could not give a guarantee of education. Government data also shows, children from the poorest families actually were not schools in the public schools. They were more schools in the private Madrasas. It was because there is flexibility in the administration and the pattern of education in private Madrasas –thanks to the concept of waqf.

Engeline’s story is slapping our faces. In the midst of our helplessness facing the fate of children, the story of the girl from Banyuwangi has surpassed our imaginations. Parents divorced, changed the parents, and living in long tortures, and eventually death sadistically.

Death may be the best way which was regulated by God. The Owner was more loved her. Engeline’s story should awaken us all. Divorce and adoption should not be passed easily. There are children’s rights there, there are state responsibility in there. This is no longer a matter of individual relationships.

The next item is a must to raise awareness of the public that they have a right to all children. If there are violations of the law by the parents of the child, the public should report it to the police. If only it were done to Engeline, maybe the way of life could have been different.

At this point, the government and the police have to speak the rise of public awareness and assurances from the police that it will not make difficult the complainants. Until now, this has not been a concern of the related institutions. All of it sucked on the disclosure of her murder. Whereas, it already would have done by the police. Prevention is the most important point. It must be a collective consciousness.

Our concern for children is domestic investment for the future of a nation. Children who are educated wrongly could be a burden because of their inability or even become seeds of criminality. The sadistic bandit was born of blurry and dark childhood. We certainly do not want to live under such stress. Our concern is for our future, our own children and grandchildren.

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