City sets up team to provide training for street children

JAKARTA (JP): The city authority has set up a team to help reduce the number of street children in the capital, which one estimate now places at around 9,000, an official said on Thursday.

Deputy Governor for Social Welfare Djailani told reporters that the team members were currently preparing a rehabilitation scheme which would focus on providing the street children with skills which would be of use to them in the future.

"In the past, we only used to detain them for three or four days in a boarding house. No wonder they just went straight back onto the streets," he said.

The team includes representatives from the city police, the social service agency, and the city offices of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Manpower.

Under the scheme, Djailani said, street children netted during round-ups would be given shelter at a place called Rumah Singgah (Transit House), where they would be trained in various useful skills.

"After completing the training, we will provide the children with work, but they will remain under our supervision," he added.

Djailani did not disclose how long the course would last.

The streets in the capital are filled with children who earn a living by begging from passing motorists and selling newspapers. Their number has risen sharply since the monetary crisis began to take its toll on the country late last year.

Djailani said the team's operations would be funded using money collected through the fund-raising program launched by Governor Sutiyoso on Wednesday evening.

Songs for fund

A total of Rp 10 billion in cash and cheques was raised at Wednesday evening's event, during which the governor plucked at his guests' heartstrings by singing a number of golden hits from the 1960s, including I Started A Joke, Corrina-Corrina, All I Have To Do Is Dream, and Words.

The guests were predominantly top Jakarta-based businesspeople and entertainers. Among prominent figures present from the business community were Aburizal Bakrie, Siti Hartati Murdaya, Muchtar Wijaya and Subronto Laras.

All funds raised by the program, which is to last until the country's economy has recovered, will be deposited in an account at Bank Rakyat Indonesia's (BRI's) Kota branch office in West Jakarta.

Interest earned on the deposit will be channeled into projects to help the poor, including the street children's rehabilitation program.

"Some of the funds might also be used to help the street children's families," Djailani added.

In an attempt to reassure the public about the integrity of the fund-raising program and how the money will be used, Sutiyoso has set up an independent team to manage the fund. Led by businesswoman Siti Hartati Murdaya, the team also includes Sutiyoso, other leading business figures, councilors, reporters, community leaders and NGO representatives.

The head of the Ministry of Social Services' city office, Ami Poerwanto, said in August that the number of street children recorded at 25 shelters in the capital had reached 3,963 people, a 15 percent increase on an estimate of 2,378 made late last year.

However, Djailani said that realistically, the number of street children in Jakarta was now closer to 9,000.

"Sixty percent of them are illegal immigrants," he said without giving further details.

Most children detained by the authorities normally go straight back onto the streets with their families blessing after they have been released as a result of desperate financial difficulties.

"There are also children who actually work, live and sleep on the street," Djailani added. (ivy/bsr)