City official's car stolen at City Hall

JAKARTA (JP): A city official's car was stolen in broad daylight from the City Hall parking lot on Tuesday after its lock system was deactivated.

The black Corolla belonging to the city secretary's assistant for development administration, Ongky Sukasah, had returned from Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta, driver Gatot said.

"We arrived at City Hall at 1:40 p.m. from Hotel Indonesia. After locking the car, I went upstairs and handed over the key to Pak Ongky," said Gatot, who added the vehicle's documents were kept with the official.

"We didn't realize what happened until later in the afternoon when Pak Ongky wanted to use the car. He said that the car was gone."

Security officials said they saw the car leaving the compound but were not suspicious.

"Knowing it was Pak Ongky's car, we didn't check whether it was Gatot who was in the car," a security official said.

Ongky's car was parked near Governor Sutiyoso's official car which is alone in being guarded.

City spokesman Muhayat said security at City Hall must be tightened following the incident.

"All this time, security officials didn't check the high- ranking officials' cars when they were leaving the compound," he said.

"Perhaps, we'll apply a ticketing system for all city officials' cars parked in the compound to prevent such crimes from happening again."

The incident added to the number of official stolen cars in recent years. Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul Kahfi said last month that the city administration lost 60 official cars in the period from 1998 to 1999.

Most of the cars were used by various city agencies. The theft on Tuesday was the first involving a vehicle of a high-ranking official. (05)