Driver awarded for foiling bus hijack

Driver awarded for foiling bus hijack

JAKARTA (JP): The Bumiputera Insurance company awarded Rp 5
million (US$ 2,105) over the weekend to a public bus driver who
bravely stopped students hijacking his bus.

Suratno Hadisuwito, a director of Bumiputera Insurance, said
that Mangaraja R. Tobing, the driver of a city bus on the Kampung
Rambutan-Kota route, had stopped 72 students from the Cawang
technical high school hijacking the bus early this month after
they were involved in a brawl.

"Nowadays, it is difficult to find such a person. The award
was entirely spontaneous," Suratno was quoted by Antara as
saying.

The students, some armed with steel rulers, tried to stop
Tobing entering a toll road, but he bravely kept his course. He
risked his life by ignoring the students' threats and managed to
signal to a highway police patrol. The police arrested the
students.

Suratno said Tobing had performed "a highly social
responsibility by putting the public's interest before his own".

Suratno said the insurance company also awarded the four
police officers who had arrested the students. (07)