Hooligans at Matahari Tunjungan Plaza
Hooligans at Matahari Tunjungan Plaza
From Bisnis Indonesia
Last Thursday, after attending a course at the West Surabaya
Telecoms office, my husband and I bought household articles and
clothing at Matahari Department Store at Tunjungan Plaza,
Surabaya between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 a.m.
After paying for the goods at cashier counter No.4, we carried
the articles to the dark and quiet telephone office's parking lot
nearby. We were putting the articles in the car when suddenly a
young man wearing a black undershirt approached us and asked if
we had just shopped at Matahari. He demanded to check our persons
and see our identity cards.
In the dark and outside Tunjungan Plaza's premises, it was
difficult for us to believe that this man was a Matahari
personnel, moreover he was not wearing an employee's or security
guard's uniform and did not show us his ID. Then, along came two
other men, who made us even more frightened.
Seeing how hooligan-like the three men were, we asked that we
go to the brightly lit security guard post. We felt at the time
that our lives and belongings were under threat. The men refused.
The men then took a wooden log, ready to hit our car windows.
A group of people from nearby then joined in, hitting at our car
and accusing us of stealing.
Confused and angry, we managed to force the three to return to
Matahari to prove our innocence and that they were not criminals
wanting to rob us.
The store attendant in charge of the "Manly" shirt stand, who
was said to have suspected us of stealing, ignored us and refused
to check the shopping bags as we requested. The attendant waved
us away saying that the matter was "settled".
We protested the hooligans (Robert and his friends), but they
remained rude. We demanded to see the store manager and again the
store attendant and Robert and his friends balked at this.
Because we kept on insisting that we see the manager, a
supervisor by the name of Azharudin appeared and told us that the
store manager Tjipto Suparmin had gone home.
With a strong protest we asked Azharudin to escort us to our
car which was parked haphazardly on the roadside because we
feared further brutality from within the parking lot. We invited
Azharudin to check our car by himself if there were stolen goods
from Matahari there.
We gave him our calling cards to show our willingness to
cooperate and to demand that Matahari Department Store attend to
our loss.
Beware when shopping at that store. Beware of their brutal
hooligans!
Matahari management, why were buyers suspected of stealing not
addressed politely before they left the store's area? What if
during the brawl we lost our car and lives?
R. PERMANA
Malang, East Java