Poor people swamp Bogor council building

Poor people swamp Bogor council building

About 100 beggars, homeless people, pedicab drivers and
other poor residents gathered at the Bogor City Council building
on Tuesday to receive donations from the Golkar Party, only to be
told that there were no donations.

The crowd arrived at about 10 a.m. armed with fliers that
carried a message that they could be exchanged for Rp 50,000,
three items of clothing, two boxes of instant noodles and five
kilograms of rice.

The town councillors, especially those from the Golkar
faction, were caught off guard by the appearance of the crowd.

The secretary of the Golkar faction, Gatut Susanta, said his
party did not distribute the leaflets.

Ani, 52, a beggar, said she received the leaflet on Monday
evening from a man dressed like a local official.

"He gave me Rp 3,000 for transportation home and told me to
come here the next day to receive the donation from Golkar," she
said.

According to the leaflets, supposedly signed by the chairman
of Golkar's central board in Bogor, HR Syamsudin, and his
secretary Gunarto, the donations were in observance of the
fasting month of Ramadhan and to thank the people for continuing
to trust Golkar as a party sensitive to social issues.--JP