Elderly man refuses to descend from tower
JAKARTA (JP): Residents of the Gang Buncit V slum area in South Jakarta on Tuesday attempted to convince a 60-year-old man to climb down from a high-voltage electricity tower.
The residents said Muhammad Sidik, who according to his wife is mentally ill, climbed to the top of the 30-meter-high tower on Monday evening.
A number of police officers deployed to rescue Sidik, who was treated at the Grogol Mental Institution in West Jakarta for one and a half months in early 1998, were told by the man to leave the area or he would commit suicide.
"Go, go, go ... or I'll kill myself," Sidik shouted repeatedly to the officers from his perch on the tower's crossarm.
As of late afternoon on Tuesday, Sidik refused to climb down from the tower, located near Jl. Mampang Prapatan VII.
His family, neighbors and police officers expressed concern over Sidik's safety and health, saying the man had not had any food or water since climbing to the top of the tower on Monday.
His wife, Mulyati, 57, said Sidik had last eaten at about 8:30 p.m. on Monday, shortly before he climbed to the top of the tower.
"He has never done this before. He just climbed so quickly ... like an orangutan. When our eldest child wanted to climb up to get him down, he started yelling at our child," she said.
The couple have seven children. "But two of them died from illnesses when my husband was being treated for his mental disturbances," Mulyati said.
The housewife said her, her husband and their children were supported by Sidik's father, Abdurrochim, 81, who leases a number of rooms in his home, because Sidik was unable to support his family.
Mulyati said her husband began to shown signs of mental illness about two years ago when he was deterred by his brothers and relatives from performing the haj pilgrimage.
Shortly afterward, Sidik quit his job as an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver.
After being treated at the Grogol institution in February 1998, he was discharged by the doctors, who said he was fine, Mulyati said.(ylt)