208 deads bodies found in Jakarta

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police recorded 208 bodies found on streets and other public places in Greater Jakarta during the first quarter of this year and about half of those remain unidentified.

Although the police are assuming that the cause of most of these deaths were from natural causes such as illness, some of the bodies show evidence that they were victims of violence.

In March, police recorded 82 bodies found, seven had open wounds. The others were assumed to have died from some sort of illness, by suicide or accidents like being hit by trains or drowning.

Earlier in February, out of the 78 bodies found, seven were suspected to be murder victims, while 33 were assumed to have died from illness. About half of the total remained unidentified, possibly suggesting they were homeless people.

In January, 48 bodies were found and 12 of them had been listed as probable murder victims. Sixteen others likely died of various ailments, while the rest have been called accidents or suicides.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said on Sunday that the police were continuing to investigate any that were suspicious, including the unidentified ones.

"Although they could have been, for example, homeless people, we will investigate. We usually send the bodies to the morgue, and we pay for the autopsy," he said.

"If the autopsy results indicate murder, we will investigate further."

Separately, urban activist Wardah Hafidz told The Jakarta Post that the high number of bodies found suggested a weak social safety net in big cities -- either provided by the government or the community itself.

"People in cars in Jakarta look away if they see a stranger lying on the street," she said. "We no longer have a social bond ... If an unidentified body is found somewhere in a country village, it would cause a huge commotion; but here in Jakarta, two or three strangers die on the street each day and people pay no attention."

However, she added that there was actually some sort of bond surviving among the homeless and urban poor in Jakarta.

"The bond is like...I'll help you this time but you're expected to pay me back by helping me the next time," she said, adding that even though the bond might sound weak, both homeless and urban poor greatly depend on each other to survive in the big city.