Adisti Sukma Sawitri and Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – It was a terse, pessimistic message on a day when others chose to salute the country's youngest citizens with songs and stories.

"Let's not celebrate National Children's Day this year. Why?" The National Commission for Child Protection's gloomy perspective came from its alarm at rampant child abuse and trafficking in the country, and a lack of public recognition of the problem. "Why should we celebrate this day if the government, parents and teachers are becoming more ignorant of children's well-being?" commission secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The commission reported that the number of child abuse cases rose by 48 percent this year, with at least 71,000 minors suffering nationwide. In 80 percent of the cases, society's guardians of children – parents, other relatives and teachers – committed the abuse.

Arist said the common attitude that corporal punishment was effective to instill discipline left children vulnerable. "It makes abuse equally spread at home, school and everywhere children go. This is because our culture allows adults to beat children when they make mistakes," he said, adding the actual incidence of abuse was probably much higher than reported.

Abuse cases make for sensational headlines, with the victims earning 15 minutes of unwanted fame before the attention dies down.

In May, a schoolteacher in Mataram was reported to police for striking 25 students with a meter-long wooden ruler on their faces and bodies after they failed a math assignment.

A father in Sunter, North Jakarta, used a hot iron on his daughter's arms and legs earlier this year to punish her after he found money in a comic book, and mistakenly believed she stole it from a friend.

Children's rights advocates complain that the frenzy of publicity about such cases fails to translate into lasting action by the authorities, and the old beliefs of children as property persist.

"We must change our paradigm. The government must educate the people that physical abuse is not the way to teach children discipline," Arist said.

Commission chief Seto Mulyadi said the government also contributed to the suffering of the millions of sick and underfed children left to fend for themselves, especially in disaster-stricken areas. "Poor government policy results in the failure to provide food and shelter for these children," he said.

And abandoned children are at highest risk of trafficking. The commission estimates from 40,000 to 70,000 children are illegally traded for commercial sex annually. In a survey of 12 major cities, the commission also found 27,000 locations where minors under 17 were available for prostitution.

Indonesia Anti-Child Trafficking coordinator Emmy Lucy Smith said the problem was proliferating because of the absence of a human trafficking law. "There is no clear punishment for trafficking so far and the definition of trafficking is still unclear," she said.

Public ignorance is another problem, she added. "In most cases, parents and victims do not even realize that they are part of trafficking."

In a speech for National Children's Day at Taman Mini Indonesia Park in East Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered local government leaders to provide special funds in their regional budgets to help finance basic needs and rights of children, as well as protect them from abuse.

Although Yudhoyono believed existing laws and regulations were sufficient to protect minors, he said the implementation was deficient due to various factors.

Yudhoyono, who watched children's performances and awarded prizes in national competitions in journalism, music and preaching, called for the establishment of child protection commissions at all levels of regional government to overcome the problem.