Beggars have own reasons 'to operate' during Ramadhan

JAKARTA (JP): The beginning of the annual Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan has, as usual, been accompanied by an increase in the number of beggars on the streets and in the public cemeteries of Greater Jakarta.

Attired in their pitiable looking clothes, the beggars have grown in number over the past few days, as they beg passersby, particularly Muslims, for rupiahs.

According to Islamic teaching, during the holy month of Ramadhan, Muslims are required to perform as many good deeds as possible, including helping the poor.

Thinking that the capital would be a gold mine during Ramadhan, many people from villages in East, West and Central Java come to Jakarta hoping for pity from generous Muslims.

A city official last week estimated that more than 2,000 beggars from the three provinces would flock to the capital during Ramadhan.

However, it is difficult to tell the real beggars from the impostors. There are many reports of beggars hiring babies or children to attract sympathy.

One can easily spot some beggars who apply red paint to their bodies to imitate blood, hoping to increase people's sympathy and receive more money.

However, when questioned, such beggars insist that they are really paupers begging money for their survival.

The following are excerpts from interviews with several beggars currently operating on the streets of Jakarta. The interviews took place on Saturday and Monday.

"I'm here for my blind husband and two children," said 51-year-old Suminih, who claimed to be originally from Kediri, East Java. She was begging at the Karet Bivak public cemetery in Central Jakarta, dressed in a dirty gray, wrinkled kebaya (traditional blouse).

According to Suminih, she used to sell rice, sweet potatoes and bananas in her village in Kediri, until she went bankrupt.

In 1996, Suminih said, she headed to the capital and tried selling vegetables at the Kramat Jati market in East Jakarta.

"I was doing well and started lending money to people. But they never returned the money, so I went bankrupt again," she said.

Suminih said that she then started to beg in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, where she earns between Rp 5,000 and Rp 6,000 a day.

"I only come here (Karet cemetery) during Ramadhan," Suminih said.

By midday, she had already collected Rp 7,500.

"Money is always good during Ramadhan," Suminih said.

Good price

On a sidewalk near the Mal Ciputra in West Jakarta, Ibu Ali, who was begging with her 16-year-old daughter Welia, said that Ramadhan is usually a good month for making money.

By Monday afternoon alone, the two had already made Rp 34,000.

According to Ali, she and her teenage daughter had arrived from their village of Indramayu in West Jakarta early last week, after her husband had planned to sell Welia to a pimp.

"I don't want to see her sold there. I would rather bring her here. She can beg with me here until the end of the fasting month, then I can sell her to anyone who can give me a good price," the woman said.

Pur, 47, who collects discarded cardboard boxes, claimed to have other reasons for begging during Ramadhan.

A mother of seven, she only earns Rp 7,500 a day from selling the cardboard boxes, but by begging during Ramadhan at the main entrance of the Istiqlal Grand Mosque in Central Jakarta, she earns at least Rp 10,000 a day.

"I just hope I can make a lot of money during Ramadhan for my kids," Pur said, adding that her husband died of a heart attack two years ago.

Juminah, 60, and a 35-year-old blind man, who she claimed was her son, had their own story.

"The boy lost his eyesight when he was an infant. He had a fever and went blind.

"He's my responsibility," she said, pointing to Muryadi beside her.

Other beggars even admitted that their relatives were not happy that they were beggars.

"If my husband knew that I have come to Jakarta to beg on the streets during Ramadhan, he would beat me up," said Farida, 34, of Cirebon, West Java, who was begging near the Buaran theater in Klender, East Jakarta.

Male beggars are often more creative than females in an attempt to attract sympathy.

Suparno, 17, for example, put black soot on his face, bandages on his feet and hands, and "red wounds" on his legs.

"It takes about one hour to make myself up," he said, showing off his begging costume at the Karet Bivak cemetery.

"I use soot because I was in junior high school in Batu Ceper, Central Jakarta, and I don't want any of my old friends to recognize me," Suparno said.

Suparno said he started begging because he was following his father, who became a beggar after his divorce from Suparno's mother. (ylt)