Poki: Dad, my school bag's worn-out, I need pencils too.
Father: Well, it's important to buy that, have this.
Poki: Only this!? How can that be enough, yeah.
Father: What can I do, the money's been used to replace the roof ties.
Poki: Roof tiles!?
President Prabowo Subianto says he wants all zinc roofs on residential houses across the country to be replaced with tiles because zinc roofs tend to be hotter and more prone to rust compared to clay tiles.
Speaking during a briefing at a national coordination meeting between the central and regional governments in the West Java city of Bogor on February 2, Prabowo said many houses in villages still use zinc roofs.
"I want all roofs in Indonesia to use clay tiles", he was quoted as saying by Tempo. "This is a nationwide 'gentengisasi' project", he added, referring to the process of installing roof tiles.
Prabowo emphasised that he no longer wishes to see zinc roof tiles on houses, especially those that are already rusty. "Rust is a symbol of degeneration, not a symbol of revival. Indonesia is rising, Indonesia must be strong, and Indonesia must be beautiful", Prabowo said.
He also announced plans to equip village Red and White Cooperatives with a roof tile factory, claiming that "building a tile factory is not costly", although he said nothing about where the millions of people around the country would find the money to reroof their homes.
Prabowo's remarks were made just days after YBS, a fourth-grade elementary school student in Ngada regency, East Nusa Tenggara, was reported to have committed suicide. The 10-year-old child was allegedly distraught after their mother was unable to buy them notebooks and pens worth less than 10,000 rupiah.
According to the Naruwolo Village head, the night before the incident YBS had asked their mother for money to buy notebooks and pens. Their mother however was unable to fulfill the request because to the family's difficult economic situation – being a widow with five children who worked as a farmer and casual labourer..
In response to YBS's death, Amnesty International Indonesia (AII) said that the tragic incident is a product of structural poverty, and demonstrates the state's failure to ensure access to education for children from poor families.
"This tragedy highlights the irony of state budget policy. While a child ends their life in response to the burden of poverty for a family unable to afford stationery worth less than 10,000 rupiah, the state will fork out 17 trillion rupiah on membership fees for [US President Donald Trump's] Board of Peace (BoP), 350 trillion rupiah on the free nutritional meals (MBG) program and 400 trillion rupiah on the Red and White Cooperatives program", said AII Executive Director Usman Hamid in a statement.
