Dorm occupants not known to locals<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The occupants of the Iskandar Muda Aceh student
\ndormitory were strangers to the neighborhood, said the
\nneighborhood head and other locals on Friday.<\/p>\n
Most of the dorm occupants did not talk to their neighbors and
\nled a reclusive life inside the house, but they looked nice and
\nreligious, several residents said from the Guntur subdistrict of
\nSetiabudi, where a powerful bomb blast killed two people and
\ninjured two others the day before.<\/p>\n
The head of the neighborhood, Sri Sukarna, said none of the
\noccupants were students. And while the police said there were 18
\npeople living in the 10-room house, Sukarna said only five were
\nregistered as residents: Salahudin Ahmad, 34, M. Kasim Yusuf, 54,
\nRusli M. Juned, 40, Irwan, 28 and Taufik Abdullah, 31. They were
\nall from Aceh, and were jobless.<\/p>\n
\"As far as I know, only Taufik, who was in charge of the
\ndormitory, was once a student. But now he is active in music,\"
\nshe told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
She said that since Taufik was unemployed, she offered him a
\njob as the secretary of the subdistrict's poverty alleviation
\nprogram. He agreed but the program has not started yet.<\/p>\n
\"The dormitory was often empty in the morning when I passed by
\non my way to the market. So it was difficult for me to monitor
\nthe activities inside,\" she said, adding that the guests often
\ncame in the evening.<\/p>\n
She said the dormitory also functioned as a shelter for
\nvisiting Acehnese who stayed in the city for several days. She
\nsaid she had asked Taufik to register the guests.<\/p>\n
\"But despite my repeated warnings, Taufik never reported who
\ncame and stayed there,\" she said, adding that some guests at the
\ndormitory would stare at her suspiciously.<\/p>\n
However, she said, all its occupants and guests had good
\nmanners, did not make any trouble with the locals and were also
\nreligious.<\/p>\n
\"That's why I was shocked when I heard the bomb exploded
\nthere. I don't understand why Taufik let his colleagues take
\nbombs into the dorm,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Head of Guntur subdistrict Usman said the dormitory, which was
\nbuilt in 1950 on 380 square meters, had been used to house
\nAcehnese students for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n
He said he could not list the people who lived in the
\ndormitory because the occupants continuously came and went from
\nyear to year.<\/p>\n
A neighbor, Sahroni, 50 said it was difficult to know for sure
\nwho lived there since most of them did not like mixing with
\nothers.<\/p>\n
\"I saw many guests go in and leave the dormitory almost every
\nnight. But I did not know exactly what their activities were in
\nthere,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Another neighbor Slamet, 42, said he and some other residents
\nrecently suspected that the dormitory was being used for drug
\ntrafficking.<\/p>\n
\"Up until the blast, we were still watching the occupants'
\nactivities but were unable to see any indications of drug dealing
\nor drug abuse,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Parwi, who sells chicken noodles 15 meters from the dorm, said
\nthe head of the community had parked his old Honda Civic sedan in
\nthe front yard of the house. He was fixing the car when the bomb
\nexploded and was hospitalized for his injuries, Parwi said.<\/p>\n
\"Thank God, the blast did not damage other houses around the
\ndormitory,\" he said.(01)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/dorm-occupants-not-known-to-locals-1447893297",
"image": ""
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