Looted goods on offer for sale at cheaper prices

Looted goods on offer for sale at cheaper prices

JAKARTA (JP): Bloodied hands need to be washed. Particularly
if they can give some relief to upset stomachs.

These could be thoughts running through the minds of a handful
of hard-eyed males, from teenage boys and to middle-aged men, on
Jl. Kembang Sepatu, Kramat Raya, Central Jakarta, who spared no
effort to sell off what apparently seemed to be looted goods.

With small stalls selling spare parts, aluminum and steel,
electronic goods, refrigerators and wooden carvings lining both
sides of the road, a walk down Jl. Kembang Sepatu might give the
impression that it was business as usual last week.

This was unless one alighted from a bus or taxi at the bus
stop at the end of the road.

A few men waited by cabs till passengers paid their cab fares.
Some even went to the extent of knocking at cab windows, non-
verbally pressing the passenger to get out quickly and see what
they had in their hands.

An assortment of American diamond-studded quartz watches, sold
for between Rp 250,000 (US$23.80) and Rp 400,000 in shops, were
offered for Rp 60,000 by these men.

Some came up with cellular phones.

"I will give it to you for Rp 95,000," said a teenager. "Where
can you get this price? It's actually worth more than Rp 1.3
million elsewhere."

Amidin (not his real name) was selling tires from drink or
food-vending trolleys, with the steel parts surrounded by still-
blackened rubber, for Rp 15,000, while the market-price is Rp
60,000. He also sold motorbike tires at Rp 25,000 when the market
price is Rp 90,000.

When asked where he got the steel parts from, he evaded
answering the question and tried to explain that as long as it
was "strong and could hold stalls", nobody should bother about
where he got it from.

Potential buyers might not bother where he got the items, but
one has good reason to be suspicious.

In the middle of this month, Jakarta was rocked by riots.
Official figures record that 4,940 buildings were damaged, burnt
down or looted. More than 4,200 of these were shops, shopping
malls, restaurants and automobile workshops while more than 500
were bank offices.

Sudirdja, a man looking for cassette recorders at an
electronics shop on Jl. Kembang Sepatu, said that a few days
earlier, a man offered him a TV for only Rp 80,000.

"It was Friday or Saturday (May 15 or May 16)... I don't
remember which. A man tried to sell me a 14-inch Detron TV-set
for Rp 80,000. Nowadays, that should go for Rp 500,000 minimum,"
he said.

He added that he was too afraid to buy anything from the man,
who seemed to insist on selling the TV to him.

"He held my upper arm... practically begging me to buy it
from him. I told him to let go and walked off quickly," Sudirdja
said.

About 250 meters from Kembang Sepatu is Pasar Poncol, a market
famous for selling spare parts at low prices. Opposite it, one
can view the damaged buildings. From Jl. Let. Jen. Soeprapto to
Jl. Tanah Tinggi III, roads are lined with charred ruins of
buildings and houses.

Iman, who works at a stall selling aluminum and steel at Pasar
Poncol, said that mobs burned a house to the ground in front of
his eyes, after burning two cars in its garage.

"There were eight people living in that place... all eight
went out of the back door and ran away. They too could have been
burnt otherwise."

After burning down the house where the eight people lived, the
mob went straight to the next-door house. This house, which had
no back door, belonged to a jamu (Indonesian herbal drink)
seller.

"She (the jamu seller) went up onto her roof, jumped onto the
next building and escaped out of its back door," he said.

He said hundreds of people looted all the houses and buildings
before burning them.

When asked where he thought the loot was being sold, he
answered without hesitation.

"Around here, booty is sold at Jl. Kembang Sepatu," Iman said.

At a market in Taman Puring, Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta,
where used items, mainly electronic goods, are sold, the scene
was almost the same.

A customer at an electronics shop there said that a week ago
he bought a set of 300-watt high-quality speakers for Rp 50,000
from "those men outside." They are sold for Rp 145,000 minimum in
shops, he said.

He said that he knew he was buying stolen goods but was not
bothered about it.

"Owning a stolen set of speakers is not as risky as owning a
stolen car, for instance," he said.

Morals

The risk of getting caught should not be people's primary
concern however, according to the deputy chairman of the
Indonesian Council of Ulemas, Ali Yafie.

"Morally, a person is committing multiple sins when selling
goods that he or she looted," Ali said.

"Why? Looting is stealing accompanied with violence. To top it
off, the person is making an income off someone else's sweat and
hard work, by selling it off while the victim can only cry at the
loss."

The person buying or selling looted goods is sinful as well.

"There is real moral damage when a person buys something which
belongs to a person who is probably crying over a loss
accompanied by terror; looting," Ali said.

"Everybody is doing his or her best to survive in these bad
conditions. And yet, it is only during these trying times that
one's character is revealed."

Ali said that it was "all the more wrong" if people did it out
of hunger.

"When a person is being tested and his physical being wins
over his morality, he has sinned. If he is really hungry, he
should ask. Why steal and cause harm?"

During the recent riots, however, many people were not
worrying about whether they were sinning. To them, it was time to
party. Men, women, adults and children were seen carrying looted
items with big smiles on their face.

The government and religious public figures have called on
people to return the booty.

West Jakarta mayor Soetardjianto, in charge of the area which
suffered most from the riots, has said that looters who give up
their booty voluntarily would not be prosecuted.

West Jakarta Military District Commander Lt. Col. Amril Amir
said last week that 557 alleged looters and two trucks of stolen
property were being held at the West Jakarta police station
pending further investigation. (ylt)