Jobseekers turn violent

JAKARTA: Thousands of angry jobseekers smashed the window tickets at the Ministry of Finance's Training Center building on Jl. Purnawarman, South Jakarta, as they attempted to get registration forms on Sunday.

The incident happened after rumors spread that some of the jobseekers had forms before the ticket windows opened at 9 a.m. As a result, many of them - some had been there for hours - became angry and started pushing each other.

In the ensuing chaos a few minutes after the ticket windows opened, all of the six ticket windows were damaged, and several women collapsed.

Matters returned to normal when the committee for the recruitment of public servants told them that 10,000 forms were available on Sunday.

Many jobseekers, however, complained as it turned out that the original forms were not available and they had to pay Rp 4,000 per copy.

Committee chairman Yuwono Prawirosetoto said that the registration forms were available till Thursday, and that the committee has provided 15,000 forms. There are 1,035 openings at the ministry's various departments nationwide.--JP