Drugged beggar babies for rent in Indonesia

[WhiteTara]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/drugged-beggar-babies-rent-indonesia-055535290.html?nhp=1

Jakarta (AFP) - At rush hour every weekday, women with babies slung across their arms line the traffic-choked streets of the Indonesian capital, flagging down drivers looking to game Jakarta's carpooling laws by hiring a few extra passengers.

But revelations some of the infants used in this years-old streetside business have been rented out by criminal syndicates, and even drugged to keep them quiet, has outraged Jakartans and prompted a crackdown by city authorities.

Motorists know at rush hour they need at least two passengers to enter main roads by law, so rely on "jockeys": These are often poor young women with a child, who act as passengers-for-hire in exchange for a small fee.

snip

The allegations of drugging and exploitation rackets -- conducted right under the noses of unsuspecting motorists -- has surprised and outraged Jakartans, though police admit they've known about it for some time but struggled to prosecute cases.

[ronnie624]

2. Sensationalistic and sketchy.

It appeals perfectly to anti-Muslim attitudes.

[WhiteTara]

3. I never thought about it that way

my thoughts were of the impoverished people forced to make unhappy choices with their children. Sort of like selling girls to be married to older men, etc.

[ronnie624]

4. Sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything about you.

There really is very little to go on in the article. It only mentions three children specifically. One was drugged, and it isn't clear why. There's no statistics at all to support the claim that drugging and "renting" babies is a widespread problem. Surely the number of people who would do such things to their own children, is very small.

Vilifying Muslims in news media is common these days, and this article definitely has that element.

[WhiteTara]

5. They drug the babies so they are quiet and compliant

so that the woman can become a passenger without trouble from the baby.

[ronnie624]

6. Only one baby is mentioned specifically,

and it seems the investigator is speculating about the reason he has been drugged, providing few details about this case.