City garbage truck torched

JAKARTA: Angry residents of Sumur Batu village, Bekasi, set a garbage truck belonging to Jakarta's sanitary agency on fire for allegedly dumping trash outside Bantar Gebang dump.

Dozens of residents got angry upon seeing the truck parked outside the dump and burned it down on Friday evening.

However, city administration spokesman Muhayat said on Monday that the truck's driver had not dumped garbage outside the Bantar Gebang dump. He had instead visited a friend at the village after discarding garbage at the dump.

"We have reported the incident to the police," Muhayat told reporters at City Hall.

The truck is the second to be torched by residents in a prolonged dispute between the city administration and Bekasi mayoralty concerning the timing of the dump's closure.

The mayoralty demanded earlier this year that the dump be closed immediately claiming it to be an environmental hazard. The city administration responded by saying it should be closed in 2003 in accordance with an earlier agreement. --JP