Armed men rob Dutchmen of Rp 2 million in Tanah Abang

Armed men rob Dutchmen of Rp 2 million in Tanah Abang

JAKARTA (JP): Two armed men attacked a Dutchman while his taxi
was stopped on Jl. KH Mas Mansyur in Tanah Abang, Central
Jakarta, yesterday, robbing him of nearly Rp 2 million (US$840).

Tanah Abang Police Chief Maj. Zulkarnain said one of the men
slashed Benno Suizzennaar's left hand and then grabbed his black
bag which contained the money.

"The other suspect fired a shot into the air and pointed his
gun at the driver before they escaped," officer Zulkarnain quoted
eyewitnesses as saying.

The driver of Suizzennaar's taxi, Asrali, rushed the victim to
a hospital.

Asrali, an unlicensed taxi driver, said he had picked up the
Dutchman at the Grand Menteng Hotel on Jl. Matraman, East
Jakarta.

"Suizzennaar asked me to take him to Petamburan cemetery, but
before going to the cemetery we stopped at a bank so he could
change his guilders to rupiah," said Asrali.

When Asrali stopped on Jl. KH Mas Mansur to ask for
directions to the cemetery, the taxi driver recounted, "a man
approached suddenly, fired his gun in the air and then pointed it
at me."

When Suizzennaar got out of the cab to ask what had happened,
the other man slashed his hand and grabbed his bag. "They escaped
on a motorcycle," recalled Asrali.

Asrali was taken to Tanah Abang's police subprecinct for
questioning.

One police source said he doubted the driver's explanation.
"Why didn't he know the cemetery's location?" asked the officer,
who asked not to be identified.

After visiting the hospital yesterday, the victim's wife,
Yoke, said her husband was very familiar with Jakarta and had
visited many parts of the city.

She said that Ben -- as she calls her husband, who was born in
1941 in Purworejo, Central Java -- frequently visits his mother's
grave at the cemetery. "His mother, a West Sumatran woman, is
buried there."

She said she arrived with Ben on Saturday from the Netherlands
and had been planning to go to Yogyakarta today.

In another case yesterday, six men stole Rp 35 million and
jewelry worth Rp 10 million from an Indian man at his house on
Jl. Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta.

A police sergeant from the Central Jakarta Police precinct
said that the suspects pretended to have been invited before
entering Mahendra's house.

"The suspects ordered the three maids in the house to go into
the bathroom. They threatened to kill them if they refused. The
criminals then entered the victim's bedroom," the officer said.

He said one of the suspects threatened Mahendra with a sickle
and demanded the money and jewelry. "The suspects escaped in a
minivan," he added.

Many people fear that more attacks on foreigners could give
Jakarta the image of an unsafe city. Living in a safe city is one
of the top concerns of foreigners living here, especially the
Japanese. In 1995, for example, more than 150 Japanese
businessmen said they were victims of pickpockets at Blok M,
South Jakarta. (jun)