A beggar recently scolded my wife for refusing to give
him some money at a busy intersection in Cempaka Putih (famously
known
as Coca-Cola intersection), Central Jakarta. I told my wife not to roll down the car window because I was afraid he was a crook.Some use the conventional style of pretending to be
starving or seriously ill, while others apply the criminal way of
extorting money from passengers by appearing as alcoholics or newly
released convicts.
Women have an effective trick of approaching benevolent people and
exploiting the innocent looks of
children under the age of five and
carrying "hired infants" at Jakarta intersections.There is no official data on the total number of beggars in Jakarta,
but according to Suciardi, head of the commercial sex rehabilitation
service at the Jakarta Social Welfare Office, their numbers increase by
40 percent during Ramadhan through Idul Fitri, from the 2,295 normally
found in the city.
Chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection, Seto Mulyadi,
said the number of
street children in Greater Jakarta reached 80,000.Earning about Rp 50,000 to Rp 75,000 daily on average,
in a month a beggar can make Rp 1.5 million, far more than Jakarta''s
minimum wage of Rp 900,000.
Most of the vagrants in Jakarta have come from other areas like
Indramayu and Brebes regencies, where they lived quite decent lives.
In Pragaan Daya village, Pragaan district, Sumenep, Madura (East Java),
begging is even part of the culture of residents and a main source of
livelihood for people.The annual rise in the number of beggars is partly the result of the high level of concern shown by Jakarta residents. The same is true of the small change given to street
children, who number about 40,000 in Jakarta with each earning around
Rp 20,000 to Rp 30,000 daily. onetheless, the problem is whether the provincial
administration has made the preparations and formulated a solution to
face the consequences of this bylaw''s implementation.
It should be questioned how far the regulation has taken heed of the
existing rules on protection for the rights of children and low-income
people.
To this end, Jakarta may have to learn from the experiences of several
other provinces and city administrations such as Makassar and
Surakarta, where bans on street beggars and singers are also imposed.Yet these cities'' regulations are accompanied by the proper handling of
former street children and teenagers, who are now provided with modest
homes and trained in various skills so that they are too busy to roam.
With Ramadhan drawing to a close and Idul Fitri just around the corner,
the Jakarta administration can make optimal use of the zakat, sadaqah
and infaq (religious alms and charity) required of Muslims who are
better off to help the poor and provide for street children.According to an independent audit, funds received in
2004 by the Jakarta alms and charity board BAZIS totaled Rp 8.3
billion, while other similar alms and donations reached Rp 7.9 billion,
far smaller than the estimated income of street children. This indicates the lack of confidence society has in Jakarta''s BAZIS.
Zakat funds should be managed in a more modern fashion in order to win the sympathy of Muslims. Those of higher financial standing should also be aware of the need to set aside some of their income beyond Idul Fitri.