Public order office crushes 750 'becak'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration crushed on Thursday 750
\nbecak (three-wheeled pedicabs) that they had seized this year.<\/p>\n
Witnessed by deputy governor for administrative affairs Abdul
\nKahfi, the becak, which had been seized in raids starting in
\nJanuary, were destroyed in a yard of the warehouse of the City
\nSecurity and Public Order Office in Cakung, Cilincing, North
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
The becak were destroyed using an excavator.<\/p>\n
An official said the becak would be dumped into the sea around
\nthe Seribu Islands to form an artificial reef, as the
\nadministration had done in previous years.<\/p>\n
Kahfi pledged that all the becak in the city, which currently
\nnumber about 7,000, would be gone by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
"On the eve of new year 2002, Jakartans will no longer see
\nbecak here," Kahfi told reporters.<\/p>\n
He urged public order officers in the five mayoralties to
\ncontinue raids against becak until they were all gone from the
\ncity.<\/p>\n
He insisted that becak were banned from the city as stipulated
\nby Bylaw No. 11\/1988 on public order.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 becak drivers staged a rally
\noutside the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
\nPerjuangan) headquarters on Jl. Pecenongan, Central Jakarta, on
\nThursday, protesting the crackdowns on becak.<\/p>\n
They asked the party to ask the city administration to stop
\nthe current becak raids.<\/p>\n
Maringan Pangaribuan, deputy chairman of the PDI Perjuangan
\nfaction in the city council, and Tarmidi Suhardjo, the council's
\ndeputy head, promised to help them.<\/p>\n
"I will ask Governor Sutiyoso to suspend the becak raids,"
\nMaringan told the protesters.<\/p>\n
Jukimin Suseno, leader of the Daya Manunggal becak driver
\nunion, complained that the administration had continued to raid
\nbecak aggressively over the past three days.<\/p>\n
"Who would want to be a becak driver? We do it because we need
\nmoney to get food. The administration should understand this and
\nstop their 'inhumane action' against us," he told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
He noted that on Wednesday night, officers of the security and
\npublic order office took a dozen becak from the Pulomas area in
\nEast Jakarta, although, they were in a garage.<\/p>\n
Last week, hundreds of becak drivers held a demonstration at
\nthe PDI Perjuangan headquarters over a similar issue.<\/p>\n
At that time, Agnita Singedekane and Jacobus, members of the
\nparty's central board, promised to contact Sutiyoso and the city
\ncouncil and asked them to suspend the becak raids.<\/p>\n
A day earlier, a becak raid triggered a riot in the Roxy area
\nof Central Jakarta that claimed the life of one civilian guard.
\n(04\/jun)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/public-order-office-crushes-750-becak-1447893297",
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