THESE teens have made the walkway in Johor Baru's Jalan Wong Ah Fook area their home.
The group of 16 teens, aged between 14 and 18, prefer to live on the streets as they come from poor families and have dropped out of school, reported Harian Metro.
A few told the Malaysian newspaper that they are happy living together with no parents to scold or nag them. They have enough to eat, and even some loose change.
The teens said they hang around the cashiers' counters of shops in the area and ask the customers for loose change. They get food from stall-holders and restaurant owners.
In return, they do simple tasks such as cleaning toilets, sweeping the floors and helping to load items into vehicles.
USE PUBLIC TOILETS
They use the public toilets in shopping centres and restaurants.
At night, the boys bed down on pieces of cardboard on the walkway.
One of the teens, Fikri (not his real name), 14, said he had been teased in school because he was not good in his studies. At home, he said, there was not enough food and he was always being scolded.
He told Harian Metro: 'Here, we can find money and do as we like. There is food and no nagging parents. We are happy.
'But at home, there is not enough food and no electricity and I just seem to be scolded all the time. We are comfortable and happy here, as we are of one mind.'
Fikri said his father was in prison for drug offences. His mother was so stressed out shouldering family responsibilities that she did not have time to cook or care for her three children.
Two other teens there, Kairun, 15, and Shukri, 17, (also not their real names) have also stopped schooling because of the taunts that they faced.
Kairun claimed that his family could not afford the school fees and his teacher punished him for this by making him stand in the hot sun.
Shukri said he ran away from home and dropped out of school after a group of girls made fun of his worn-out uniforms as his family could not afford new ones.
All three teens did not seem to have problems living on the road.
But they constantly face the threat of welfare department officials and the police.
Bakri and Fikri were caught by welfare officers but managed to get away.
They said they were rounded up onto a lorry with vagrants, beggars and foreigners and taken to the welfare department's headquarters.
There, they were told they would be sent home but, while waiting for a vehicle, the two boys fled.
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/st...27588,00.html?
JB walkway is home for 16 teens 
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