Beggars to be out of sight during SEA Games

Baby beggars: Mothers carry infants while begging on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan in East Jakarta in an August 8 file photo. The Jakarta administration said it would launch a crackdown on beggars and street people to present a shiny image of the city as it plays host to the SEA Games in November (JP/Ricky Yudhistira) The Jakarta administration plans to launch a crackdown on beggars and street people in a bid to present a shiny image of the city as it plays host to the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in November.

The City Public Order Office will deploy a total of 4,824 personnel before and during the SEA Games, which will take place Nov. 11-22.

“We will prevent beggars and other street people from going near the venues, hotels and other areas related to the event,” the office’s head of enforcement, Darwis F Silitonga, said Wednesday.

Darwis said, however, that the officers would not arrest the beggars.

“We don’t want to create tensions by arresting [the beggars]. We don’t want to create disruption during the SEA Games,” he said.

The officers will be located at key locations across the city, including the 24 venues and the 54 hotels where the foreign athletes and officials will stay, and also 44 areas prone to attract street people, like road intersections and transportation hubs.

According to city data, a total of 3,766 athletes, 1,877 officials, and 1,135 referees will stay in the capital during the games.

The administration has prepared a total of 3,997 rooms at 54 hotels, including the Mulia, Century, Sahid, Maharaja and Mercure.

The crackdown against beggars will be the second the city has carried out this year.

The Jakarta administration launched a crackdown on panhandling and begging in July and August, in anticipation of the increasing number of beggars seeking to obtain alms during the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Separately, City Transportation Agency head Udar Pristono said they would limit the number of vehicles entering the Senayan Sports Complex in Central Jakarta and Ancol Dreamland Park in North Jakarta, both of which are due to serve as venues for the SEA Games.

Pristono said his agency would issue special stickers for vehicles, which would serve as entrance passes into those areas.

“We are also going to temporarily close a number of roads when athletes and officials depart [the venues] to return to their hotels during the competition,” he said.

The agency will deploy a total of 567 personnel to help police deal with traffic at city intersections and in areas around the sport venues. The agency and police personnel will also assist the motorcades of athletes and officials on their daily trips during the SEA Games.

Jakarta’s Education Agency has also decided to grant holidays to first and second graders at junior and senior high schools, from Nov. 14-18, to help reduce traffic congestion.

Jakarta is cohosting the regional sporting event with the South Sumatra capital of Palembang, which will be the primary host city.

The opening and closing ceremonies will be held in Palembang.

About 15,900 athletes and officials from 11 countries are expected to descend on Indonesia for the tournament, 8,000 of whom will stay in Palembang.

Facing a shortage of available hotel rooms and guest houses in Palembang, the Indonesian SEA Games’ Organizing Committee (INASOC) has turned to the military to provide two military vessels, and state-owned company PT Pelni to lease them a ship for the duration of the games.

INASOC is also looking into renting a cruise ship to provide further accommodation.