Protest at plan to net vagrants

Protest at plan to net vagrants

JAKARTA (JP): A non-governmental organization has strongly
protested the city administration's plan to round up street
children and send them to rehabilitation shelters ahead of the
People's Consultative Assembly's Special Session next week.

The organization called Forum Peduli Anak Indonesia
(Indonesian Children Care Forum) said in a statement signed by
its coordinator Erwin Pardede on Friday that it feared operations
against street children would cause them suffering as during
earlier raids law and order officers used violence against them.

"The raid plan, which is aimed to clean the streets of
children due to the special session, next year's general election
and other political reasons, is inhumane and could
psychologically disturb the children," the statement said.

It said that beside being inhumane, sending the street
children to rehabilitation shelters might depress them.

The organization said providing daily meals worth Rp 7,500
(US$1) without supervision was neither wise nor educative and
could tempt officers in charge of handling the program to act
corruptly.

"Netting the street children without improving their families'
lives will only worsen their situation since most of them work on
the streets for their families' needs," it said.

The city administration inaugurated 12 shelters for street
children on Thursday.

Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah said after the
inauguration ceremony, that he would deploy his officials to net
the children at street junctions. (jun)