Over 2,000 beggars to come to the city

JAKARTA (JP): The number of seasonal beggars flocking to the capital during the Ramadhan fasting month, which will start on Sunday, is projected to remain at about 2,000, an official of the city social service office said on Thursday.

H. Waluyo, a subdivision head of the office, said there was an absence of a jump in the number of beggars coming to Jakarta this month because quite apart from it being harvest time in the villages where they lived, they would also be hindered by the sharply rising costs of transportation.

"The monetary crisis and weather factors could possibly make them change their minds about whether to come to Jakarta or not. Transportation costs have risen due to the expense of spare- parts. Moreover it is the harvest season."

He said that the seasonal beggars, who mostly came from Central Java, usually arrived in this time of the holy month to work on the emotions of Jakartans -- who are 98 percent Moslems -- for money.

"Jakarta this year is already home to 12,000 beggars. The new arrivals would therefore bring the number of beggars to 14,000," Waluyo said on Thursday following a communication forum for hospital doctors and social welfare experts at City Hall.

Waluyo said that his office would closely cooperate with soldiers and police officers deployed to maintain security in the city's 60 crime black spots to get rid of the beggars.

"The beggars will be, as usual, rounded up, handed over to the police stations where they will be selected before being picked up by social welfare people," Waluyo said.

"They will be then sent for rehabilitation in the city's social centers." (ylt)