Beggars, vagrants on the rise

JAKARTA (JP): The number of unemployed people, vagrants, beggars, urchins and street prostitutes had increased in Jakarta, a top city official said.

"If not properly addressed, these social ills will have the potential to adversely affect the city's life, including security and public order and urban socio-economic mechanisms," RS Museno, the deputy governor for people's welfare, said Thursday.

He was a regional consultation meeting on social welfare here on Tuesday.

He blamed the problem on widespread poverty and uncontrolled urbanization.

"If urbanization continues unabated, we are afraid it will exacerbate the problem in that the social gap between the rich and the poor will further widen," Museno said.

Many rural people still have the false idea that Jakarta is a dream city that promises and offers abundant rosy things, he pointed out. (bas)