The minister underscored the need to care more for the elderly in facing the Indonesian demographic bonus peak in 2030 during which both the number of productive people and the elderly will increase.
"At that time, as many people will age, and Indonesia will have more elderly people," she noted at the commemoration of National Elderly Day that was centered in North Aceh on Wednesday.
She affirmed that the optimization of old people’s role in society in Indonesia can be done if family members also play a role in caring for and loving them.
She noted that the lack of participation of family members in caring for the elderly causes many of them to have to live in social homes and not with their families.
"We are ready to accept them but what happens is that they (the family members) never visit them (the elderly)," she pointed out.
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To this end, Rismaharini pressed for the need to raise concern for the elderly from an early age, so that the values of caring for people that have been instilled can be practiced into adulthood and be sustained across generations.
"Let us pay more attention to the elderly. Why? It is because without them, we are nothing. Without our old people, without our teachers, and without the other old people who used to guide us, we are nobody," she stressed.
This year's National Elderly Day commemoration was centered in North Aceh District, Aceh Province, involving 4,982 elderly people.
They received social assistance in the form of 27 integrated basic houses (RST) and health services, such as cataract surgery, blood donation, and free health checkups.
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Translator: Sean, Kenzu
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
