Officials striving to expel socially problematic people

JAKARTA (JP): The economic situation is proving to be a serious headache for people from all walks of life.

While the upper-class are falling over themselves to close their factories, pack up and head for overseas or buy guns and dig in, those below the poverty line are shuffling down streets, begging bowl held aloft or selling sex to help themselves and their families through the tough times.

In turn, the cash strapped city authorities feel compelled to cleanse the capital's streets of these "eyesores" in a bid to improve its image.

An official from the public order office, which is handling the issue, said yesterday their operational budget had been cut to Rp 11 million from its previous level of Rp 50 million.

Head of the social services office, Emon Setia Soemantri, said the number of "socially problematic people" -- as he euphemistically phrased it -- apprehended by public order personnel on the streets of Jakarta had reached 20,400 in the first six months this year.

In the corresponding period last year, 13,800 people were detained, he told City Council Commission E for social welfare during a meeting last week.

He said the latest raids had brought the number of street children apprehended to a total of 3,000, three times higher than last years figure for the corresponding period.

The number of street vendors detained and sent for rehabilitation by the office has almost doubled to 3,500 from last year's figure of 2,000.

The number of mentally ill people detained during the operations has risen to 500 from 300 last year, beggars to 3,500 from 2,700 last year, prostitutes to 6,000 from 4,600 and transvestites to 1,600 from 1,500 last year.

The number of street singers, donation box carriers and "jockeys" for the three-in-one traffic system caught have also jumped slightly to 2,000 from 1,500.

Emon said that most of the people apprehended, and especially the children, had gone on to the streets with their families blessing as a result of desperate financial difficulties.

"Many, especially the vendors, beggars and singers, were actually asked by their parents to go and work on the streets," he said.

He said many of the children, especially those begging for a living, had stopped going to school long before the crisis broke.

Many of the street people are illegal immigrants who came to Jakarta late last year in the hope of finding work.

Emon said the city's 300 social centers and orphanages were currently looking after 32,032 abandoned minors, including orphans and street children.

He said the city administration was limited as to how much it could help the children because of the severe budgetary cut's imposed as a result of a sharp drop in revenues raised through taxes.

"The city used to be able to subsidize food for 6,000 of the 32,032 children in its care. Where possible, Rp 1,000 per child per day was allocated to help cover their food and education expenses," said Emon.

However, a cut in budget from Rp 2.1 billion last year to Rp 1.5 billion in this financial year has left the city unable to offer even this minimal charitable assistance and the number of children receiving financial help has been cut.

"It means the city can now subsidize only 4,258 children," he said. (cst)