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."