Indonesian Police Arrest 13 in Alleged Abuse at Yogyakarta Childcare Center

Indonesian police arrested 13 people accused of mistreatment and neglect at Little Aresha childcare center in Yogyakarta, following a raid last Friday that uncovered children with their hands and feet tied and bearing injuries. The arrested include 11 childcare workers, the center's principal, and the head of the Little Aresha Foundation, facing charges including child neglect and multiple child protection offenses.

The center, which enrolled 103 children, has been closed since the raid and did not have an operating permit.

The raid followed a police report from a former employee alleging inhumane treatment of children at the center. Police found several rooms measuring about 3m wide, each containing up to 20 children, according to Rizki Adrian, head of the Yogyakarta police criminal investigation unit.

At least 53 of the enrolled children are believed to be victims of physical abuse or neglect, with the majority under two years old.

CCTV footage showed children under the age of 2 lying on the floor wearing only diapers with hands and feet bound with rags, as reported by the Japan Times. Police confirmed the circulating CCTV footage is authentic. On Saturday, police detained and questioned around 30 people from the childcare center.

Parents recounted signs of distress in their children. Noorman enrolled his daughter at Little Aresha in 2022 when she was two years old and his son in 2024 when the son was three months old. He observed a cut on his daughter's chin and bruises on her hands, but staff told him the injuries occurred at home.

Budiyanto started sending his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter to Little Aresha last year and noticed cuts, bruises, and bumps on her forehead and cheek. Staff at Little Aresha told Budiyanto that his daughter was bitten by other children. Noorman's son was diagnosed with pneumonia during a recent check-up.

Erika Rismay posted a TikTok video of her daughter recounting being tied up and having her mouth covered at Little Aresha, with the video viewed more than 300,000 times. In the video, the child said her mouth was covered 'so I wouldn't cry. ' Erika wrote in the caption, 'Oh Allah, my child, forgive me,' noting her daughter cried hysterically before school and returned silent and spaced out.

Noorman, a civil servant, received a frantic phone call from a friend during the raid, urging him to pick up his children. 'We were then shown a video of the raid, showing the children with their hands and feet tied up, with no clothes and only wearing diapers,' Noorman told BBC Indonesian.

' 'Behind all this, we didn't expect that the children at the daycare would be treated so poorly,' Noorman said.

He noted his children seemed perpetually hungry despite packed lunches, with his son struggling to gain weight. 'Why is it that every day when he gets home, he always complains that he's still hungry, asking for food, a drink, milk,' Noorman said. ' Noorman and his wife hope for a thorough investigation and maximum punishment.

'It's inhumane. We've been entrusting him to the centre,' Noorman said. ' The Yogyakarta government called for thorough psychological and physical assessments for the alleged victims. Trauma healing services will be available to parents of victims, authorities said.

Yogyakarta mayor Hasto Wardoyo vowed to inspect the rest of the city's childcare centers and raise public awareness about verified services. On Sunday, a lawmaker urged a full investigation into Little Aresha. The case echoes a 2024 incident in Depok city, south of Jakarta, where a daycare center came under scrutiny after viral security camera footage showed two toddlers being mistreated by a woman.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) found that less than 20% of more than 100 daycare centers in Depok city were licensed. There are around 3,000 childcare centers across Indonesia, according to KPAI. Many are unlicensed, such as Little Aresha.