Man beaten after entering house

JAKARTA: A man in his thirties was beaten by locals when he was caught trying to enter an empty house in the Bintaro housing complex in South Jakarta.

"I'm not a burglar, I'm a beggar," the man told security guards at the complex, as reported by kompas.com. Thursday.

He said he only wanted to ask for donations from the owner. When locals and guards asked him whether it was appropriate to ask for alms at 4 a.m., and by climbing over the house gates, the man, who carried no ID card, refused to reply.

Security guard Mujianto said hundreds of people had been spotted in Bintaro ahead of Idul Fitri. Locals assumed they were seasonal beggars who usually operated in the center of Jakarta. They had moved to the city's periphery -- including Bintaro, Serpong and Ciputat in Tangerang -- after the city's public order officers had chased them away.

Hasyim, a Serpong resident, said during Ramadan pickup trucks had been unloading people on the area's main streets. Some people had been seen distributing babies and toddlers to the "beggars", he said.

"For residents here, it's like a public secret. But what can we do?" -- JP