Ex-drug addicts get training

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