The National Development Planning Agency, or Bappenas, on Tuesday predicted that Indonesia’s population could reach 324 million people in 2045. Bappenas said it had made three scenarios for the projections of Indonesia’s population growth. “According to the business-as-usual scenario, Indonesia is forecast to be home to 324 million people in 2045. This marks an increase of 54.42 million people from 2020 figures,” Bappenas head Suharso Monoarfa said in Jakarta on Tuesday. “In 2020-2050, our population will witness an annual growth rate of 0.67 percent, and it will gradually slow down each year,” Suharso said. According to Bappenas, those aged 15-64 years old would account for 65.79 percent of the Indonesian population in 2045. People aged 65 years old and above would jump from 6.16 percent in 2020 to 14.61 percent in 2045. Indonesia is the fourth most-populous nation, but will drop to sixth place in 2045,” Suharso said. Statistics shown at the Bappenas forum revealed that India’s population could hit 1.6 billion people in 2045. Followed by China (1.3 billion), the US (371.7 million), Nigeria (349.6 million), and Pakistan (345.8 million). Read more at:
EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD
Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.
“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”
