Ex-drug addicts get training

JAKARTA: Sixty-five former drug addicts are receiving free training in Rawa Lumbu district to become motorcycle mechanics.

The training, which will cost Rp 38 million, is organized by the Society Empowerment Board of the Bekasi mayoralty administration and funded by the central government.

Kamaludin, 35, the training supervisor, said on Monday the training started two weeks ago on a 1,000-square-meter plot of land belonging to Adak, a local resident.

Adak has donated the use of his land, only requesting that the participants of the training keep the area clean, Kamaludin said.

He said he hoped that after the training was completed, the former drug addicts would be able to find jobs.

The deputy speaker of Commission E for public welfare at the Bekasi council, Syafrudin, suggested that automotive company Astra be involved in the program so the students could later find work at its factory.

He also said that he hoped the program would be expanded in the future to include the unemployed. About 39,000 people in Bekasi are currently without work, he added. --Antara