Emotion runs high after Senen fire

JAKARTA (JP): Emotion ran high yesterday among the store owners whose kiosks and goods were razed by fire at the Senen shopping center on Saturday, with some accusing the center's management of negligence and others suggesting sabotage.

Many of them said the fire's timing, a few weeks before their leases expired, was too coincidental.

Their accusations were quickly denied by Diaz Moreno, the director of Jaya Property which manages the shopping complex, Antara reported.

"Their suspicions are unfounded," Diaz was quoted as saying. "They are still emotional because their shops were razed. If their leases are indeed expiring, that's no way to terminate their leases."

Diaz toured the center to talk to some of the owners of the kiosks that were destroyed in Block IV and Block V of the Senen complex.

The four stories of Block IV, excluding the basement, were gutted. The block mainly housed shops selling car parts. Bigger shops and offices were also affected, including the Ramayana Department Store, Duta Theater, Mitra Cahaya, Bank Danamon and Bank Jaya.

Bank Jaya and the center's manager Jaya Property are part of the giant Pembangunan Jaya business group.

The traders yesterday were still counting their losses, estimated to reach in the hundreds of billions of rupiahs.

Police yesterday investigated the cause of the fire, which began just after midnight on Saturday.

Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. M. Ibrahim said 750 shops in Block IV and another 300 in Block V were affected.

He said 17 people, including several security guards of the complex, were being questioned. "There are no indications of arson so far," Ibrahim said.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control after more than 17 hours. But smoke was still rising from the center yesterday, witnesses said.

Tjokro, the chairman of the Association of Car Spare Parts Enterprises, led the accusations against the building's management.

He said Jaya Property's 20-year contract to manage the complex would end before the new year, and the management would be handed back to the municipal administration.

"Why the fire now? I don't have any negative presumptions, but I'm just wondering," said Tjokro, who ran one of the biggest car spare part shops in the complex. He said the center's management had unsuccessfully tried to raise the rent.

Diaz said many of the leases had been renewed and therefore the accusations that the fire had something to do with the contracts expiring were unfounded.

Firefighter's failure to extinguish the blaze quickly fueled speculation by angry shop owners yesterday on possible sabotage, Antara reported.

"I heard on television they dispatched 34 fire trucks, but I only counted 12," one shop owner said.

Another said firefighters were slow to combat the fire on arrival. "When we asked them why, they said they were waiting for orders."

Others questioned why the firefighters did not try to get into the building instead of just spraying water from outside.

They recalled that 10 years ago firefighters put out a fire in a store at the top of Block IV.

But Tjokro said the firefighters had done their best.

"They did their job. Of course, they didn't want to become heroes, because the fire was raging and there were some explosions too. You'd better not have any negative presumptions about the firefighters," he told some of his fellow victims.

Tjokro questioned why Block IV's fire hydrant did not work in the fire, recalling that it was recently inspected by the authorities.

Diaz responded that the hydrant worked, but that it ran out of water after two hours.

There was also some debate on the fire's cause, with Tjokro disputing the police's assumption on a short circuit.

He said the shop owners had spent billions of rupiah on the center's electrical wiring. "It's impossible and it's hard to believe that a short circuit started it. What's the use of spending all that money then?" asked Tjokro sourly.

Tjokro promised to take the matter to the court. "We will hire a lawyer to secure compensation," he said.

Sutiyo, a fire officer at the Senen complex, said the firefighters had trouble entering the building because most shops had steel roller doors. "Our time was spent cutting through the roller doors one by one," he said.

Capt. M. Said, the Senen police precinct chief, said Jl. Pasar Senen would be closed to all traffic until Thursday while police conducted their investigation.

The thick smoke coming out of the building yesterday stopped police investigators starting their investigation, an officer said.

PD Pasar Jaya, the city-owned company which co-manages the Senen shopping complex, said the authorities would seek an alternative location nearby for the displaced traders pending the building's reconstruction.

Spokesman Lihardin Sipayung suggested Block III and Block VI as possible locations. "We don't want them to lose their business if we move them too far away," he said.

Diaz said the building's management had met officials of the Central Jakarta Mayoralty to discuss reconstruction and the provision of temporary shelters for the displaced traders. (02/jun/bsr/emb)

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