Charity box children wait for end of detention<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Seven teenage girls, aged between 15 and 19, who
\nhave been in custody at the city's Bangun Daya 02 temporary
\ndetention house in Kedoya, West Jakarta, for about six weeks, are
\nwaiting impatiently for the end of their detention.<\/p>\n
Interviewed by The Jakarta Post on Thursday, the girls -- from
\nSolo and Purwokerto in Central Java -- said they were nabbed by
\nCity Public Order Agency personnel when collecting donations from
\nbus passengers and pedestrians for the construction of a mosque
\nand an Islamic boarding school.<\/p>\n
The city personnel, they said, accused the charity box girls
\nof defrauding money from people by saying that the funds would be
\nused for a religious mission.<\/p>\n
Sitting together on the floor of a small trapezoid cell which
\nhad nothing but five token mattresses, and no pillows, the girls
\nsaid they were no longer able to wait for their release.<\/p>\n
\"I have been here for 45 days,\" said Dariati, who looked
\nyounger than the 16 years she claimed to be.<\/p>\n
\"But I still don't know when will they let me go,\" she said
\nsadly.<\/p>\n
The girls are powerless to do anything and must simply await
\ntheir fate. No one, including people assigned to collect the
\nmoney they raised or lawyers, has so far appeared to free them
\nfrom their minuscule cell, which is often used to detain
\nprostitutes, beggars and the homeless who have been charged with
\nviolating city regulations.<\/p>\n
The head of the house, Nandi Tjaspandi, said he personally had
\nno authority to release the teenagers and that the decision lay
\nin the hands of the City Social Agency, which runs the house.<\/p>\n
His office, he said, was still waiting for further
\ninstructions from the agency.<\/p>\n
\"I heard that the agency will return the girls to their homes
\nin their respective villages, but I don't know when,\" Nandi said.<\/p>\n
He did not explain why the house had kept the girls under
\ndetention for one and a half months in the absence of a legal
\nprocess. He also failed to mention why there had been no contact
\nwith relatives of the girls in order to inform them about their
\ndetention.<\/p>\n
The Kedoya house is one several similar run by the City Social
\nAgency and used as a temporary place before inmates are either
\nlater released or sent to rehabilitation centers.<\/p>\n
Suryanti, 16, who claimed to have been collecting money for
\nthe Al-Madinah Assalafiah boarding school in Pamanukan, West
\nJava, along with the other four girls in the cell, said she was
\npaid Rp 5,000 per day to raise funds on buses.<\/p>\n
In one day, she recalled, she could collect between Rp 10,000
\nand Rp 15,000, which she and the other fund raisers handed over
\nto an older friend, who then gave the money to someone they
\ncalled \"the coordinator\".<\/p>\n
None of the girls have met their \"coordinators\".<\/p>\n
\"I needed money to eat,\" Suryanti recalled.<\/p>\n
Some of the girls doubted the real purpose of the coordinator,
\nwhom they did not know and had never met.<\/p>\n
They admitted that their main reason for taking part in the
\nseemingly religious mission was money.<\/p>\n
\"I had doubts, but you know I couldn't go to check whether the
\nboarding school existed or not. I couldn't afford it,\" Nawati,
\nanother girl, said.<\/p>\n
She asked a member of staff at the house to directly check
\nwhether or not the boarding school existed.<\/p>\n
\"And if it does, please release us,\" Nawati said.<\/p>\n
The girls said they were given meals three times a day,
\nconsisting of rice, vegetables, usually boiled spinach, and oncom
\n(fermented tempe).<\/p>\n
\"Fish? Never,\" Nawati said.<\/p>\n
According to Nandi, the center received modest funding from
\nthe City Social Agency.<\/p>\n
\"It allocates only Rp 5,000 per inmate per day,\" Nandi said.<\/p>\n
Last year, a total of 279 fund raisers were detained, who
\nclaimed to have been assigned to collect funds for Islamic
\ninstitutions.<\/p>\n
When contacted by phone, a man who said he was the head of the
\nAl-Madinah Assalafiah boarding school, Sofwan Suri, admitted that
\nhis school was employing people to raise funds for, among other
\nthings, a boys dormitory.<\/p>\n
But he insisted that he had no idea about the girls detained
\nin Kedoya.<\/p>\n
\"I haven't heard about that, but I will contact the fund
\nraising coordinator to check on the matter,\" Sofwan said from
\nPamanukan.<\/p>\n
He claimed that there were only two coordinators for his
\nproject in Jakarta: Jafar who lived in Kreo, Ciledug in South
\nJakarta and Agus who coordinated the collecting at Kampung
\nRambutan terminal, in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
It is common in many big cities across the country to see
\nhundreds, or perhaps thousands of people, on city buses and at
\nhousing complexes, asking for money for various religious
\nmissions, such as the development of boarding schools and
\nmosques.<\/p>\n
They usually carry lists and the proposals of the projects to
\nbe constructed or renovated, along with charity boxes or
\nenvelopes.<\/p>\n
While awaiting their day of freedom, the seven girls at the
\nKedoya house have nothing to do besides sitting in their cell.<\/p>\n
A torn book titled Managing Social Organizations, which they
\nborrowed from the house, is their only \"companion\".<\/p>\n
The girls said they wished for something more suitable to
\nread.<\/p>\n
\"That would be good,\" Siti Markamah, a girl who had been
\nsitting quietly said suddenly. (08)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/charity-box-children-wait-for-end-of-detention-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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