Lepers seek better lives in Ramadhan

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

The holy month of Ramadhan is a time for giving, which some people take advantage of by looking for easy money, begging on the street.

This issue draws attention to the livelihood of dozens of cured lepers, who say their social and economic rights have been denied.

Dinah, 36, spends most days sitting on the sidewalk at the intersection of Jl. Veteran and Jl. MP Taruna hoping for small change from passing motorists.

"I need the money to buy medicine for my sores and to feed my family," she told The Jakarta Post, explaining she has two children and her husband is unemployed.

She also has to pay monthly rent of Rp 75,000 for a house in Serba Guna complex, located right behind the state Sitanala Hospital for leprosy in Neglasari, Tangerang.

The rest of the year, the number of cured lepers begging on the street is 15 on average.

"But in the fasting month, it's more like 35. The intersection is the only safe place for us, or we would not survive the traffic or public order officers," said Kamal, 37, who was infected with the disease when he was six.

In any other place, Kamal added, he was picked up by public order officers, who would send him to the city's social rehabilitation center, where he would stay for a couple of days before being sent back to his hometown in Karawang, West Java.

From Karawang, Kamal always returned to the Serba Guna complex, where he is one of 4,500 residents who are recovered lepers.

In 1997, the central government ceased its monthly food supply for cured lepers. With no clear reason, the government also stopped providing free medical treatment, including hospitalization, as well as rehabilitation programs for the cured lepers.

While some of them have successfully established their own enterprises and moved up in the world, most of the cured lepers prefer to stay among their community in Tangerang and continue living as beggars.

The poorest among them rent beds in the hospital.

Disturbed by the presence of the beggars, some Tangerang administration officials alleged they were organized by certain people or a group who sought profit.

"They are dropped there by profit-seekers," an official of the Tangerang Community Empowerment office, which is responsible for the handling of beggars in the municipality told the Post.

However, the recovered lepers who were interviewed denied the allegation, saying they were only able to bring home no more than Rp 10,000 on average after eight hours begging at the intersection.

"It costs me Rp 4,000 a day to take a becak (pedicab) from my home to the intersection. I often bring home less than Rp 10,000 because when it rains, there will be nothing for us there," said Dinah.

Sitanala Hospital deputy director JP Handoko Suwono said that the cured lepers were those who had passed a supervision period of more than one year, and were therefore no longer entitled to receive treatment at the hospital or use its facilities .

"We have run out of ideas as to how to help the former lepers because most of them like to live in their own way. Once we sent 60 former leper families to Lebak regency in Banten but they returned here after two weeks," he said.