VOA标准英语2009年-Jakarta Cracks Down on Beggars During Rama

By Solenn Honorine
Jakarta
17 September 2009

 
Passengers wait for train at Jakarta train station as Indonesians living in capital city begin their exodus¹ to their home provinces for end of Ramadan holidays, 17 Sep 2009 
For Muslims, the holy month of Ramadan, which ends in a few days, is not only a time of fast and prayer, it is also a time to be generous to the poor. In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, beggars flood in from the countryside in the hope of benefiting from the spirit of giving. But they all risk being arrested for violating the city's ban on begging. Solenn Honorine recently followed one of the raids.
 
Eight agents from Jakarta's Social Welfare Agency start their anti-beggar raid with a short prayer, eyes down at their feet.
 
They are off to a productive start. Siti, a 55-year-old woman, is already seated in the dingy² truck. She looks scared, clutching the small cloth bag that contains all her possessions.
 
She says that she was just standing³ on a street corner where a woman gave her money. Then a Social Welfare agent locked her up in the hot truck without any explanation. She says she was too afraid to ask why she was being detained.

Siti faces a long afternoon. The truck roams the wide avenues in downtown Jakarta, stopping under each of the bridges that lead to the Transjakarta bus-way. They are busy passages favored by beggars who hope to get a few coins from the commuters.

Law forbids begging on street
 

Two years ago, the Jakarta administration passed a law that forbids begging in the streets, and punishes people who give money to beggars. This month, almost 1,600 beggars have been arrested during the daily raids organized in the city.

One man runs away when he spots the black caps of the Social Welfare agents. But Sari, a 33-year-old woman, can not run as fast with her four-month-old daughter sleeping in her arms. She shakes with fear when the agents ask her to follow them.
 
Sari huddles⁴ over her baby. She says her husband is dead, and she has no other means but begging to support her infant. Between sobs⁵, she swears that she has no boss, that she is here on her own.

Raids target organized crime
 

The main target of the raids are the organized crime syndicates that round up people from the countryside, bus them to the capital and then collect the money they make from begging. Ramadan is the month when they are the busiest.
 
Budiharjo, who heads Jakarta's social welfare agency, explains that even though some beggars are indeed poor and need help from the state, during Ramadan up to 80 percent of them come from outside the capital, and most are working for syndicates. He says that this disturbs social peace and should be stopped.
 
Wharda Haf, who is the president of the Urban Poor Consortium in Jakarta, disagrees with this argument.
 
"They're trying to hide poverty behind all the skyscrapers⁶. Instead of addressing the problem, which is poverty, they issued this law criminalizing poverty, which to me is off the target. They know it doesn't solve any problem because every year it will be the same. You know, it's like a vicious circle that doesn't have an end, and is just wasting a whole lot of taxpayer⁷ money," said Wharda Haf.

The raid has been going on for two hours. Twelve people have been caught and will be sent either to their home villages or to a detention⁸ center. Most look lost, afraid; but not Didi, a disabled man who struggles to keep his balance in the road bumps.
 
Didi chooses to laugh at it all. He says life has changed. Two years ago, he used to be free to go wherever he wanted. But he is not going to worry about being locked up or sent back to his village. That is life, he says.

Rounding up the beggars feels like trying to fill a leaking vase. It has no end. Officials estimate that after the Idul Fitri holidays that mark the end of Ramadan, a quarter of a million newcomers will flock to Jakarta. Most of them will be poor, most of them will not have a job, but most of them will be dreaming of finding a better life in the shade of the skyscrapers.

1 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

2 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 huddles   

（尤指杂乱地）挤在一起的人（或物品、建筑）( huddle的名词复数 )； （美式足球）队员靠拢（磋商战术）

参考例句：

• The little girl huddles herself up. 小女孩把身子缩成一团。
• The child huddles down in the bed, listening to the sound of the storm. 孩子听到雷雨声，就在床上缩成了一团。

5 sobs   

啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She was struggling to suppress her sobs. 她拼命不让自己哭出来。
• She burst into a convulsive sobs. 她突然抽泣起来。

6 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

7 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

8 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。