City officials bribed to allow children to beg

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Most Jakartans are familiar with the presence of street children at most intersections in the city every day. They take their existence for granted as another dark side of the city.

Unfortunately, even law enforcers hardly blink an eye at the daily sight nor do they consider it a violation of the law even though most children are forced to work in the streets by adults.

On Tuesday, the Central Jakarta District Police questioned a couple who each day put nearly a dozen children to beg on the street corners at intersections in the Senen and Menteng areas of Central Jakarta.

The children, between the ages of four and 12, were also taken into custody.

The middle-aged couple, Buyung Masril and Zuraidah, told the police that they had been making children work the streets for years. Some children had no parents while others had their parents' permission to work for the couple.

Every day, they brought the children to beg at intersections in Senen and Menteng from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Zuraidah would watch the children all day to assure that they worked well and would give her Rp 30,000 to Rp 40,000 a day.

One of the children, Hendri, said that the couple would beat them if they did not listen to the pair. Hendri, who has never been to school, said that he wanted to get an education and be smart one day.

Buyung said he bribed officers from the City Public Order office to protect "his business". The officers would inform him when the office would be making a raid on street workers.

City Bylaw No. 11/1988 on public order prohibits the practice of begging and selling on streets.

Instead of charging the couple, the police sent them to the City Social Rehabilitation Center in Kedoya, West Jakarta.

This means they can be released within three months time or less after they complete a rehabilitation program at the center.

Sr. Comr. Edmon Ilyas, the chief of the district police, said that the raid was part of the Central Jakarta Mayoralty's efforts to stop street workers.

"Therefore, we send them to the rehabilitation center. Besides, it is only an economic problem," he said.

This fact reveals that law enforcers do not yet recognize children's rights, said a researcher at the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute for Women's Empowerment and Justice (LBH APIK).

"The couple should actually be charged under several articles of the Criminal Code because it is considered to be human trafficking," said Ratna Batara Murti, referring to Article 297, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in jail.

Parents or guardians who force their children to beg in the streets could also be charged under Article 301 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of four years imprisonment.

All children in Indonesia deserve protection from adults as the country ratified in 2000 the International Labor Organization Convention No. 182, concerning the prohibition of child labor and immediate action for the elimination of the worst forms of it.

Law No 39/1999 on human rights also protects children's rights. Article 62 of the Code also protects children from exploitation for economical reasons.

However, laws on children protection are not strong enough to prevent children from being exploited by adults.

"We need a specific law with stiff sanctions against violators to protect children's rights because most law enforcers are ignorant about them. Some even protect the practice of child exploitation as they get bribes," Ratna added.

She urged the government to legislate the bill on the protection of children soon.

"Children need to be protected from any kind of exploitation. Otherwise, the situation will get worse," Ratna said.