Crime rate jumps during MPR

JAKARTA (JP): The crime rate during the recent General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) increased 1.7 percent from the rate recorded two and a half weeks before its commencement, the chief of the city police's center of operations and control said.

Col. Soenarko said on Friday 304 cases were recorded between Oct. 1 and Oct. 21, an increase of five over the 299 recorded between Sept. 10 and Sept. 30.

"The outstanding increases were recorded in road accidents and vandalism. We expected accidents and street crime to be on the rise during the MPR General Session, considering the unstable conditions in Jakarta at the time," Soenarko told The Jakarta Post.

Three strong blasts shocked thousands of supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) who were staging a mass rally on the major streets of the capital during the election of Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid as president on Oct. 20.

While the second blast caused one casualty near the Taman Ria Senayan flyover in South Jakarta, police put the total number of injured at 30, with some suffering serious burns.

According to police data, a total of 26 road accidents and 10 occurrences of vandalism were recorded during the General Session, whereas only four accidents and two cases of vandalism were recorded two and a half weeks before.

Data also revealed that 3,581 people, mostly hoodlums, were arrested across Greater Jakarta in the Kilat Jaya police operation.

A high point was on Oct. 13, when 656 people who got off buses, trains and ships were arrested in one day for attempting to join widespread protests in the capital.

"Another high point was on Oct. 14, when 749 people were arrested for attempting to join protests in the capital. Most of the people arrested came from Central, East and West Java," Soenarko said.

Other increases in criminal activities at the time included 11 robberies, 16 car thefts, 24 discoveries of bodies around the capital and eight brawls. (ylt)