Team of census officials scare homeless people

JAKARTA (JP): It was almost 11 p.m. when a team of enumerators from the Jakarta office of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) and some top bureau officials arrived at Jatinegara market in East Jakarta on Friday to collect data on the homeless who lived in the area.

Their presence, however, shocked some of the homeless people and street vendors, who were grouping in the market that night. Many of them ran quickly into small alleys in the market when the team stepped out of their cars.

"Kamtib! Kamtib!" some of them yelled, referring to the City Public Order Agency personnel, who usually net beggars, homeless, street vendors and prostitutes for alleged violation of city regulations.

While many of their neighbors had already disappeared, some of the market's inhabitants, who were still lying asleep on plastic sheets and cardboard on the roadside, were awakened by the enumerators.

"Don't be afraid, we only want to collect data for the national census," one of the officials said to a couple who just awoke and looked confused to see so many people surrounding them.

Data recording is part of the bureau's decadal national population census, which began on June 1.

The official then asked the couple's names before telling them to go back to sleep.

The team then moved to other people who were sleeping next to the couple. A man who had just awoke was about to run away when the enumerators grabbed his hand and told him that they were not from the City Public Order Agency.

East Jakarta Mayor Andi Mappaganti, who also took part in the night survey, then took over the questioning. Like the other team members, he only asked the man's name.

When asked about the seemingly inadequate data collected, as the night survey excluded key questions, including the correspondent's age, BPS chairwoman Sudarti Surbakti said in defense that it had been held in accordance with the bureau's procedures.

"The homeless always move from one place to another so that they cannot be put into a target group (of the census)," Sudarti told The Jakarta Post.

Comprehensive data

The bureau earlier announced that the results of the census would consist of complete and detailed data on population distribution according to age, residence, marital status, citizenship, education, mortality and fertility rates, as well as religion, ethnicity and gender.

The bureau also promised to provide more comprehensive data on the poor so that the information could then be used in the distribution of packages included in government-sponsored social safety net programs.

Head of BPS' Jakarta office Masni Rani said the night survey was only aimed at the homeless, but not at the market's other occupants, such as the street vendors, who stay at their own or rented houses and whose data was collected at their respective residences.

However, the Friday night census did not ask whether a correspondent was a homeless person or a street vendor just spending a night in the market.

"We have a local as a guide who tells us which people are homeless," Masni argued.

The Friday night survey lasted for about 30 minutes and succeeded to gather data on 16 names.

"I collected them myself," mayor Andi said to reporters.

Hundreds of homeless people, who mostly make a living by collecting plastic stuff and cardboard, can be spotted at the market everyday.

Two homeless people at the market, Ramdani and Wartini, who claimed to have come from Semarang, told the Post that they made about Rp 10,000 a day each.

Ramdani, who is in his forties, said he had been living with Wartini as a couple but they were never married.

"We met five years ago at Cipayung (East Jakarta) and we've been moving around since," Ramdani said. (08)