Criminals take refuge in damaged buildings

Criminals take refuge in damaged buildings

JAKARTA (JP): Many deserted buildings, damaged or burnt during
last May's riots, are being used by street criminals as their
hideouts, a police officer said on Monday.

Jakarta Police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said that a
lot of street criminals, who operate at the city's major
junctions extorting money from motorists, frequently fled to
these buildings when chased by police officers.

"We therefore urge the building owners to repair their
properties, or if they can't afford to do that, put fences around
the buildings to prevent criminals from entering," he said.

A police source disclosed that the buildings suspected to have
been used as hideouts by criminals included one of the Robinson
Department stores in Pasar Minggu, city-owned Cipete market
building, both in South Jakarta, and the Super Ekonomi department
store in Depok.

"These buildings are located near main streets, so many
homeless people use them as temporary shelters, but some of these
people, we know, often practice crimes on the streets as well,"
he told reporters.

If necessary, Aritonang said, the building owners could assign
some of their employees to guard the properties or ask for help
from the police.

During the massive and bloody riots which hit the city on May
13 and May 14, 1998, more than 6,000 buildings and other public
facilities worth about Rp 2.5 trillion were damaged or burnt.

The riots, which led to the downfall of former president
Soeharto on May 21, also claimed an estimated 1,200 lives and
left most Jakartans in fear of the widespread lawlessness.

Looting broke out in most parts of the city, targeting shops,
shopping centers and malls owned by wealthy business people,
mainly Indonesians of Chinese descent.

Aritonang said the damaged buildings also attracted people to
scavenge wood, bricks and iron, and other usable materials from
the rubble, which could be categorized as looting.

Earlier this month, the city witnessed rampant looting at a
deserted warehouse compound in North Jakarta, where hundreds of
people came to scrounge for old iron, bricks and wood from the
unused automotive assembling factory.

Six people reportedly died during the looting spree.

"If the building owners don't object to the looting, it's
their problem, but our task is to prevent the rising number of
victims in these activities," he said.

Aritonang also said that the damaged buildings endangered
those using them for temporary shelters and also
nearby residents, as they could easily collapse.

"No one can predict when those burned buildings will fall
down," he said. (emf)