Tanah Abang still smoldering, firemen accused of arson<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
It has been 36 hours and fire fighters were still working hard
\nlate on Thursday night to put out a fire which continued to
\nsmolder at Southeast Asia's largest textile mart in Tanah Abang,
\nCentral Jakarta.<\/p>\n
With the electricity to the area switched off, owners of
\nunburned shops outside the four-story building speculated that
\nthe market would be closed for at least one month, so they
\ndecided to empty their kiosks to prevent looting.<\/p>\n
Three of the 40 fire engines were seen on the site working to
\npump water from the gutters, while others collected water from
\nhydrants and the river within a radius of one kilometer.<\/p>\n
\"There is one water reservoir right in the middle of the
\nmarket, but we cannot reach it. Besides, there is not enough
\nwater to put out a fire this big,\" head of the Jakarta Fire
\nDepartment Johnny Pangaribuan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Fully aware that nothing else could be done to save what was
\nleft, hundreds of shop owners and employees just watched the
\nthick smoke billow. They grumbled about how ineffective the
\nfirefighters were.<\/p>\n
Muklis, 45, one of the owners, had been in business at Tanah
\nAbang since the early 1980s selling garments on the sidewalk
\nuntil he saved enough to buy two small kiosks -- each worth Rp
\n250 million -- on the building's second floor in Block A.<\/p>\n
\"Why are the firefighters just relaxing? They are lazy and not
\nseriously trying to put out the fire which has now started to
\nburn the upper floors. Seeing how they do their work, I suspect
\nthey are in collusion with an arsonist,\" Muklis, accompanied by
\nwife Sumiati, told the Post.<\/p>\n
Pangaribuan seemed to disagree with such accusations, saying
\nthat he himself had warned the president of the city's market
\noperator PD Pasar Jaya Syahril Tanjung last November that six of
\nits markets had poor security and facilities.<\/p>\n
\"Of all the buildings in Jakarta, I feared a fire in Tanah
\nAbang market the most, because it's always full of people and
\ngoods, but the place was not in good order and the fire
\nextinguishing equipment was not well maintained.<\/p>\n
\"I formally asked the management to let us inspect the market
\nin January, but they asked us to wait. Now, we discover that only
\none of the six hydrants was working and they only had a few small
\nfire extinguishers for a building so dense,\" he told the Post.<\/p>\n
Another kiosk owner Rizal, whose lots also were burned,
\ndemanded certainty from both the government and the market
\nmanagement that they could reopen business and get compensation
\nfor their losses, which could amount to trillions of rupiah. It
\nis estimated that more than 6,900 owners have lost their kiosks.<\/p>\n
In a related development, City Police spokesman Sr. Comr.
\nPrasetyo revealed that police investigators had questioned three
\nwitnesses to discover the cause of the fire.<\/p>\n
Those three are the head of the market management, Yudi, and
\ntwo of the market security guards Debleng Sutrisno, 35, and
\nAwaludin, 30.<\/p>\n
\"But thus far, we have not named any suspects responsible for
\nthe blaze,\" Prasetyo said.<\/p>\n
He said police had not even reached a final conclusion over
\nwhat could have caused the fire.<\/p>\n
\"Personnel of the Central Jakarta Police precinct supported by
\npersonnel from Puslabfor (police forensics laboratory center) are
\nstill investigating on the scene to determine the cause of the
\nfire,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The police had also detained seven people who were caught
\nlooting in the kiosks left by the owners during the fire on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
The detainees are Ronny Pasaribu, 31, Hamdani, 20, M. Nasrul,
\n28, Feriyanto, 22, Rustam Effendy, 28, Soleh Mabrur, 21, and
\nZulfikar, 32, all residents of Tanah Abang district.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tanah-abang-still-smoldering-firemen-accused-of-arson-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}