THERE seems to be no end to the
hide-and-seek game between the authorities and foreign child beggars in
Selangor.
The children, who had the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards on them, kept changing
their base of operations constantly to escape the authorities.
They have apparently moved from
their regular spots in Klang town to areas in Shah Alam and traffic lights
junctions at the exit to highways.
Recently, StarMetro spotted some
of them at a traffic lights junction near Politeknik Shah Alam, along the Jalan
Subang – Guthrie Corridor interchange in Section 13 of Shah Alam.
Checks revealed that the children
had been switching up their locations from time to time to avoid being caught
by the enforcement authorities especially from the Selangor Welfare Services
Department.
Local resident Samad Idris, 50,
who had closely followed the movement of the young beggars, said Klang remained
their base as the Rohingya refugees lived in numerous areas in the Royal Town.
“Their families live along Jalan
Kapar, Jalan Meru and Jalan Kampung Jawa and therefore they usually carry out
their activities around Klang.
“However, they also change their
spots when they sense being watched by the authorities or the media,” he said
It is also believed that the
children changed their focus to Shah Alam for the whole of last month.
Several boys sporting festive
attire were seen waiting at traffic lights junctions for the light to turn red,
facing vehicles heading from the Guthrie Highway and North Klang Valley
Expressway (NKVE) to the Federal Highway.
Once the light turned red, the
boys knocked on the windows of the vehicles asking for money.
Motorists were seen giving RM1
and RM5, while some were also seen offering up to RM10.
On completing their rounds, the
children would go back to their starting point to store the collected money in
a plastic container hidden under a broken concrete drain cover.
Checks also revealed that another
group of children continued their daily activity in Klang, begging from
motorists along Jalan Pos near the former Klang North bus terminal.
A trader who declined to be
identified, said only a few of them were begging in the area because he
believed others had moved to Shah Alam due to recent raids by the authorities.
He said some of the foreign
children were also caught during the raid but returned after several days.
“It is strange that these
children kept returning even after being nabbed,” he said
A Selangor Welfare Services
Department officer told StarMetro that 80 beggars, including 50 foreigners were
caught during a statewide raid against beggars two weeks ago.
“We have handed over the Rohingya
beggars to UNHCR while the locals were sent to rehabilitation centres,” he
said.
On the Rohingya child beggars,
the official said the department was aware that the children had changed their
base often.
“We also had difficulty catching
them because they would run off on realising the presence of enforcement
authorities.
“We fear for their safety
especially when trying to nab them at busy traffic light junctions,” he said,
adding that the department was unable to do anything more than to surrender
them to the UNHCR.
On Nov 23 last year, StarMetro
exposed the activity of the Rohingya child beggars in Klang.
About 20 of the children were
seen begging along Jalan Pos, Jalan Raja Hassan and the Bulatan Seratus
roundabout in Persiaran Sultan Ibrahim and the five-foot ways of the streets.
