Beggars stake their own claim to the streets
Beggars stake their own claim to the streets
By Stevie Emilia
JAKARTA (JP): The red light is not the only thing facing you
when you stop at an intersection in the city these days.
Be prepared for the assault of beggars whining, street singers
creating a din with unmelodious chanting and hawkers pushing
their wares.
Men and women, young and old -- they are now seemingly at
every turn.
Clad in rags, they can tug at the heart strings, especially
now during the tough times of the crisis.
Others try a more threatening approach by banging on windows
or waving sharp objects.
"I was at the Cawang intersection, East Jakarta, and the
traffic light turned red... suddenly a young man appeared. He
asked for money and showed me a piece of broken glass," said
Rina, who drives a Feroza jeep.
She gave him Rp 500 instead of the Rp 2,000 he demanded.
"I was scared, but if I just gave what he asked it might
encourage him to become deviant."
Aditya, who had a similar run-in, said he would rather relent
and hand over some loose change than run the risk of having his
vehicle damaged.
"After the recent looting and riots, anything is possible. I
don't want to take any chances."
Most people consider the people a nuisance, but others try to
understand them.
"It's hard for them to earn a living now, that's why they're
doing it," said Nila, a university student.
She drives by herself from her home in Kebayoran Baru, South
Jakarta, to her campus in Depok on the city's outskirts.
Nila always prepares a stack of Rp 100 coins before leaving
home every day. A beggar's smile after she drops a couple of
coins into his or her hands always makes her happy.
But she has also experienced a less agreeable encounter.
"Once I was in a hurry and I did not have any coins. A street
singer was angry when I didn't give him any money so he hit my
car several times... I was so afraid."
Some street singers do their best in carrying a tune but many
create a noise disturbance.
They clap their hands to an off-key rendition of a song,
before hastily demanding money from the motorists for their
"performance". Often, they will not take a polite no for an
answer, patiently waiting outside each car until the driver or
passengers finally gives up and drops them some change.
Many of them seem oblivious to the danger of getting hit by an
oncoming vehicle.
"I'm afraid of hitting them. They approach cars even before
they stop," said taxi driver Rahmat.
Singer
Edo, 16, is to be found among the gaggle of people trying to
eke out a living on the streets.
Armed with a guitar he borrowed from a neighbor and his
memorization of Slank's latest songs, he is ready for work.
With the traffic light poised to turn red, he bounds over to a
car and belts out a song. He only stops singing when the driver
finally gives him a coin or two.
"I just want to earn some money because my parents can no
longer afford to give me an allowance." The long-haired, skinny
teenager claimed he still studied in morning classes at junior
high school.
Edo, who mostly operates at the main traffic circle in front
of the Youth Advancement monument on Jl. Jend. Sudirman in South
Jakarta, said he could bring home up to Rp 5,000 a day on work
days, but less on weekends when traffic was not as busy.
The job carries its own hazards; Edo often has to play hide-
and-seek with the police.
"I don't want to be arrested. It would be shameful for my
family. So I only work where there are not too many police
around, or when the police are busy with the traffic."
Police
Police and the city's public order officers have
unsuccessfully attempted to clean up the city's streets of
vagrants and beggars many times.
Methods tried include sending them straight back to their
hometowns, placing them in halfway houses for rehabilitation
programs or sending them to temporary shelters pending
finalization of their journey home.
Earlier this year, 1,378 people were rounded up in several
operations. Two hundred of them were sent back to their hometowns
and 146 were selected for the rehabilitation programs. The rest
were taken to shelters in Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta and Pondok
Bambu, East Jakarta, to be sent home later.
Head of the city's social services agency Emon Setia Sumantri
said 90 percent of beggars, street singers and hawkers on the
city's streets were from outside Jakarta. Some had lost their
jobs during the crisis.
"The city officials will continue cleaning up the streets from
beggars and others as instructed by the governor," he said.
But he admitted the crisis created its own host of problems
for the officials. "It's difficult (to just send them home)...
some of them have no jobs in their hometowns," Emon said.
Under City Ordinance No. 1/1970, Jakarta is a closed city for
any migrant considered a burden to the city, including jobless
people. Gubernatorial Decree No. 1540/1996 states that every
visitor must possess travel documents and report to heads of
community neighborhoods in which he or she resides.
The city administration identifies 31 locations as prime
operation areas for street singers, hawkers and beggars.
Sociologist Sardjono Jatiman said it was unfortunate but only
to be expected that Jakarta, as the center of development, was a
magnet for the nation's poor.
"Poor people are getting poorer in the crisis but the
government cannot provide them jobs."
He urged the police and administration to correct the errant
ways of the people, but to avoid being harsh on them in the
crisis.
The people may annoy drivers, disturb traffic and some might
even go too far with their intimidating tactics, but Sardjono
contended most were not dangerous.
"Those people are trying to earn halal (legal) money in a
difficult time, but they're not criminals. There should be a way
to monitor them, to prevent them from causing damage or harming
people."