Please tell me what we can do to make a difference.....
Living on the edge (NST - 13/4/07)
About 16 children aged between 14 and 18 years old roam one of Johor Baru’s notable streets. They have been called a nuisance, an eyesore and even a threat to the tourism industry. JASSMINE SHADIQE finds out who they are and how they came to live in the shadows of the country’s second largest city
BOSOM buddies Zaini Khamis and Majmin Ali (not their real names) just could not take the ridicule and humiliation they faced at school every day. The two teenagers in Johor Baru were always on the receiving end — from teachers and students, who made fun of them because they were poor and could not afford brighter and cleaner school uniforms.
Another of their friends, Zainal Faisal, 14, was often the butt of jokes from teachers and school- mates because he was not good in his studies. Life at home was an endless cycle of hunger and scolding.
Ironically, the only comfort, care and companionship that these kids found came from living on the streets of Johor Baru.
As Zainal told the New Straits Times, "there’s money in these streets".
The three, along with 16-year-olds Shukri Moin and Sani Samad, are among the 16-odd urchins who have become a common sight along Jalan Wong Ah Fook, a thoroughfare of restaurants, shops and moneychangers, usually choked with locals and tourists.
Their tales of how they ended up sleeping on cardboard boxes on pavements and scrounging for restaurant leftovers bear the familiar theme of broken families, grinding poverty and the subsequent alienation from their better- off peers at school.
Zainal’s father is in prison for trafficking drugs and his mother has been so depressed that she can’t cook for herself, let alone her three children who live in a shack in Kampung Skudai Laut.
Zaini’s family could not afford to pay the 15-year-old’s RM24 school fees and because of this, his teacher made him stand out in the sun.
Sani and Shukri decided to quit school just before their Penilaian Menengah Rendah exams as they felt that it was pointless — they could never afford the costly books needed for the test.
The last straw that drove Majmin, 17, away from home and school came one day when a group of schoolgirls commented on his uniform, which was shabby because his family could not afford a new one.
For these five, life on the street is not as bad as it seems.
They affectionately refer to each other by nicknames, such as "Tree" (Zainal), "Buck" (Shukri) and "Arun" (Zaini).
They never steal, they claimed, but would wait around foreign currency traders to ask customers for small change .
Meals come from stall operators or restaurant owners in exchange for performing tasks like cleaning toilets, sweeping floors or helping to load things into vehicles.
For toilets, they just hop into public washrooms in shopping malls or restaurants.
But threats do come in the form of older boys, who extort money from the five. The boys also feel that they are unfairly treated by authorities, such as the Welfare Department and the police.
Shukri and Zainal said they were picked up one day by Welfare Department officers, who "swooped down" on them in a black police truck.
"The officers wore rubber gloves and blue vests, as though we had some disease," Zainal said.
"They hauled us into the truck with some drunks, beggars and illegal immigrants."
The two were taken to the department’s office in Jalan Air Molek, where their particulars were taken down.
"Realising that we were underage, they asked for our parents’ telephone numbers.
"Our families do not even have money for the electricity bill and they asked us for telephone numbers!" Shukri said.
When the officers asked them to wait while they made arrangements for a car to take them home, the two took the opportunity to slip away.
"At home, there is never enough food, no electricity. Only scolding.
"Here in the streets we get to do whatever we want. There is life, food, no angry parents. And we are happy," said Zainal. "
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Like my dear sista says they don't make teachers like they used to ..... I say same goes for the rest of the human race
