Raids on street vagrants to continue: Agency

Raids on street vagrants to continue: Agency

JAKARTA (JP): The City Public Order Agency will continue to
round up vagrants in its effort to preserve order in the streets
although many will subsequently find their way back, an official
said on Friday.

The administration is having difficulty dealing with vagrants
in spite of a joint effort involving various agencies to move
them off Jakarta's streets, Tonni Boediono, head of the public
facility of the Public Order Agency, said.

The campaign to handle "people with social problems" has been
made even more difficult during the current economic crisis, he
said. Programs designed to improve their welfare, including
vocational training, have proved fruitless, Tonni said.

"It is mainly due to their mentality, which tends to ignore
the law, and lack of skill which drives them to choose to live on
the streets," he said, adding that their presence is a major
cause of public disturbance.

Various agencies for social services, public order, manpower,
health, education, land transportation control and the city
police are involved in the endeavor.

There were at least 79,500 "people with social problems"
roaming the streets of Jakarta in 1999, according to official
estimates.

The administration has routinely rounded them up. Those under
the age of 18 are returned to their parents or sent to an
orphanage. Some are sent for vocational training and later given
jobs, while others are sent back to their hometowns.

Many who are given jobs, however, drop out and return to their
previous activities after only four or five days, Tonni said.

Most vagrants believe they can make more money selling snacks
or directing traffic than if they had proper work, such as street
sweeping, he said.

An official at the City Social Services Bureau, Dudung
Supriadi, said residents could help the administration's effort
to preserve order in the streets by not buying from people
hawking goods at intersections.

Dudung pointed out a 1998 bylaw on public order which bans
people from selling in the streets.

"The public could help restore order by not buying things sold
by vagrants and therefore discouraging their activities," he
said. (06)