Increased paternity leave, decrease maternal distress
In June 2016, Ahmad Zaini and Adi Nugroho created a petition that asked the Indonesian House of Representatives to increase paternity leave from 2 days to 2 weeks. Law No. 13 of 2003 on Manpower mandated two days of paid paternity leave for the birth of a child or in the case of miscarriage. Zaini and Nugroho, the founders of the fathers' movement known as ayahaada.com, aimed to improve the Indonesian parenting ecosystem by implementing better policies through their petition. This petition that was made on 2016 International Father’s Day, got 32,112 supporters, and went nowhere. Regrettably, Irgan Mahfiz , a senator from the House of Representatives, argued that paternity leave is unusual and unnecessary. “It is western people’s tradition. Do not bring it to Indonesia,” said Mahfiz. What a shame. Fast forward to date: Indonesia has recently enacted new legislation, known as UU Kesehatan Ibu dan Anak , which focuses on maternal and child welfare during the first 1,000 days of a ch