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)