Former hoodlums need jobs: Rights activist<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government should help repentant street
\nhoodlums find employment because joblessness will only drive them
\nback to their old habits, a human rights activist said yesterday.<\/p>\n
After providing vocational training to the street thugs, the
\ngovernment should provide them with jobs, said Maj. Gen. (ret)
\nSoegiri, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights.<\/p>\n
Soegiri said that it was mainly unemployment which had caused
\nmany people to become hoodlums and that, therefore, the creation
\nof jobs would be the best remedy for the social problem.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that the public, notably employers, might be
\nreluctant to accept rehabilitated hoodlums.<\/p>\n
\"But everyone should realize that street crime is not only the
\npolice's problem but that of everyone in the society. So people
\nshould put forward ideas about how to solve the problem,\" he was
\nquoted by Antara as saying in Lampung.<\/p>\n
In the continuing war against street hoodlums, police across
\nthe country have rounded up thousands of people in major cities.
\nMany have been released while others have undergone vocational
\ntraining in military training centers.<\/p>\n
The crackdown on hoodlums was prompted by the murder of a
\npolice officer in a Jakarta shopping complex last month. However,
\nthe military has insisted that the operation is merely an
\nintensification of an ongoing war against street violence.<\/p>\n
Soegiri proposed that companies tightly screen former hoodlums
\nseeking work with them.<\/p>\n
\"Companies need to be selective so that they will not go
\nbankrupt as a result of (former hoodlum) employees reverting to
\nbad habits,\" he said. (29)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/former-hoodlums-need-jobs-rights-activist-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}