Drink seller killed over debt

JAKARTA (JP): A debt of Rp 2,000 (65 U.S. cents) has cost a street vendor his life.

Saripin, 40, a coconut drink seller at the busy Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta, was stabbed in the chest and wrist with a sickle Thursday after refusing to settle his debt with an ice vender.

He died of blood loss two days later at the Sumber Waras hospital.

According to Eno Witana, also a vendor, Saripin was a bad- tempered man and the suspect, who is still at large, was a newcomer at the market and knew nothing about Saripin.

Instead of paying his debt, Saripin slapped the ice trader in public, said Eno.

Hearing of the stabbing, Saripin's wife, Cuntirah, 30, a vegetable farmer in Kuningan, West Java, rushed to Jakarta after borrowing money from relatives, who sold their jewelry to raise the money.

The medical bills amounted to almost Rp 1 million.

She was asked by the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital on Saturday to pay Rp 450,000 for an autopsy, administrative clearance and for the cost of the body being transported by ambulance from the Sumber Waras hospital.

"How can I pay that when I'm still thinking about my debt to my relatives in the village?" Cuntirah sobbed. (04)