T

he city administration has secured support from the city police to arrest those engaged in illicit street activities, with the main target being the syndicates behind the operations.

On Monday, Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama and city police chief Insp. Gen. Unggung Cahyono signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding law enforcement and persons earning a living on the streets, which are designated '€œresidents with social and community problems'€ (PMKS) by city officials.

Ahok said that the cooperation between the city administration and the police was meant to send a message to the syndicates behind the exploitation of the poor in the capital.

'€œMost of the time, we find that [PMKS] are controlled by certain individuals [...] We want to send a message [to the syndicates]. To be frank, those behind the PMKS are not stupid people. They are actually smart. This MoU highlights our determination to eradicate the syndicates,'€ Ahok announced after the MoU signing at City Hall.

With support from the police, the city is poised to take more stringent actions against illegal activities carried out on the street, which includes panhandling and prostitution.

'€œWe will prepare lawyers and we will proactively take legal action against them. We can also take them to the police,'€ he said.

Ahok said that the city would ask the people to sign an agreement saying that they would return to their hometowns.

'€œIf they return to the streets, we can charge them with fraud. Many of them go to the streets not to fulfill their basic needs, but to build a house in their hometowns,'€ Ahok said.

Unggung said the police would gather local authorities, including police officers, and assign them to neighborhoods to advise on security matters for district and subdistrict leaders.

'€œThey understand the roots of many problems in our society,'€ Unggung said.

Unggung said that the police and the city administration would use a persuasive approach when dealing with street people.

'€œPublic order officers will be on the frontlines. We will just back them up,'€ he said, adding that he would deploy some 270 officers to support the program.

'€œWhenever Pak deputy governor asks for our support, we will be ready,'€ he said.

While the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) stated that the number of poor people in Jakarta stood at 300,000, Ahok believes that the true figure is larger.

'€œA single person needs at least Rp 2.4 million [US$196] per month to live comfortably in Jakarta. I assume that people with an income under that [is at least] 50 percent of the total population [of 10 million people]. This is a time bomb that could explode at any time. I have asked the BPS to check the figure,'€ Ahok said.

Social Agency head Masrokhan said the city had cooperated with other provinces regarding the new program.

'€œWe will return them [PMKS] to their hometowns in cooperation with our partner administrations. They will be handled by respective social agencies,'€ he said, pointing out that the Social Agency had already sent home some 1,000 people on the streets to their hometowns.

Masrokhan added that his agency had disseminated information regarding the new policy to areas of Jakarta with high concentrations of.

According to the agency, there are 28 spots across the capital that would become the focus of the crackdown. The spots included the Slipi intersection in West Jakarta, the Senayan traffic circle in South Jakarta, the Matraman intersection in East Jakarta, Harmoni in Central Jakarta and Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta.

Currently, 6,000 beggars, prostitutes, street children, street buskers and the homeless reside in 27 shelters owned and operated by the city.