Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – The Tangerang municipality's crackdown on begging has made the intersection at Jl. TIM Taruna an unsafe place for former lepers to ask for alms this Ramadan.
Many former lepers have resorted to staying at home instead of begging at the popular intersection, fearing public order officers will catch them.
"I have no choice but to stay at home. The intersection is no longer a safe place for us to look for alms," Kasman, a 47-year-old former leper, told The Jakarta Post in a small hut behind the Sitanala Leprosy Hospital in the Neglasari district Tuesday.
About 25 recovered lepers bearing the scars of their past illness – including bleeding open sores, dry skin and amputated limbs – sit on the roadside every day in the direct sun, begging passing motorists for money.
While some former lepers can walk from vehicle to vehicle begging, others like Kasman, who lost his legs to the disease, are forced to remain in the one spot.
He tried begging at road intersections in Jakarta, but was caught by public order officers and sent to Kedoya Social Shelter, a facility belonging to the city's social agency in West Jakarta.
Even once lepers recover from their illness and are discharged from Sitanala, they are treated as social outcasts and cannot find jobs. "Who is willing to employ a disabled and disfigured person like me?" Kasman said.
Nurhayati, a 29-year-old former leper, lost her right leg to the disease. She said her family in Cirebon never once visited her during her treatment at the hospital between 1997 and 2001.
"This is my destiny and I have to bear it alone until I die. I was deeply saddened at being ditched by my family and so I will never return to them," she said.
Nurhayati used to bring home Rp 25,000 after spending eight hours at the intersection, often in terrible conditions. "Rain is the only thing we are afraid of as most former lepers are sensitive to cold weather," she said.
Around 5,000 former lepers and their families stay in a complex located behind Sitanala Hospital that has three community divisions.
Sudarman, the head of one of those divisions, said most lepers released from the hospital begged because the administration ignored them. "They are often treated like dogs, with the public order officers hunting us on streets."
Sitanala Hospital deputy director, Poppy Maryani, said the people did not really accept former lepers.
The hospital is currently treating nearly 50 lepers, 75 percent of whom are from poor families, meaning the health agency covers the bill. Sitanala Hospital admits an average of 900 lepers each year from Jakarta, Bogor, Bekasi, Karawang, Depok and Cirebon.
Many choose not to return to their hometowns as residents reject them, and stay at huts near the hospital instead.