Looting spreads to various areas

JAKARTA (JP): At least three people died and dozens more have been wounded in clashes with the security forces during sporadic outbreaks of rioting and looting in areas of North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Jambi and East Java over the past three days.

In the North Sumatra capital of Medan, a mob of 100 people took advantage of the chaos caused by a public transport drivers strike to attack the city's luxurious Plaza Yuki Simpang Raya shopping center.

The crowd threw stones at the building's glass walls and looted some of the merchandise displayed on the first floor, including wristwatches and jewelry. Shoppers and salesgirls alike fled in panic before the security forces arrived 15 minutes later to restore order.

No injuries were reported and five arrests were made.

The incident took place at around 8.30 a.m., when Medan had been brought to a virtual standstill by the drivers strike which left thousands stranded and without transport.

The drivers were protesting at the soaring price of basic commodities and vehicle spare parts.

When the looting began yesterday, the drivers and their supporters, including students and youth activists, were delivering their demands to Governor Rizal T. Nurdin at his office on Jl. Diponegoro.

The meeting lasted late into yesterday afternoon.

During the meeting, Rizal agreed to the establishment of a People's Collective Council. The council will be manned by the representatives of farmers, fishermen, drivers and menial workers and will advise the governor on his efforts to improve the welfare of people in the province.

Demonstrators told the governor how they no longer earned enough to live as a result of soaring prices.

"We go to work early in the morning when our children are still asleep and come home when they are already back in their beds, but we never earn more than Rp 7,500 (65 U.S. cents) for a hard day's work," said one of the drivers. "The price of a kilogram of rice is now Rp 4,000. We can't buy anything to eat with it.

"What's going to happen to us? No matter how hard we work, we just can't make a decent living," he lamented.

The drivers pointed out that the price of spare parts has risen by 400 percent, making life even more difficult for them.

Meanwhile, sporadic looting has been breaking out in East Java since Saturday. In one incident in Bondowoso, a man identified as Busyairi, 36, was shot dead on Sunday morning when troops tried to stop a mob from pillaging rice mills and shops selling basic commodities. Seven people were arrested and may be charged with organizing the looting.

Police chief Col. Budi Utomo said investigations had revealed that the looting was motivated by "personal interests."

Also on Sunday, hundreds of people looted two major chicken farms, PT Telor Kencana and PT Ayam Petelor, in the Pakis district of Malang regency in East Java. Five people were wounded when security forces tried to disperse the crowds. The mob stole 15,000 chickens, six television sets and one pickup van.

Still in East Java, hundreds of people stole timber from a teak plantation in Snepo Sepi, Pesanggaran, in Banyuwangi regency on Sunday.

Six people were arrested and taken to Pesanggaran police station. However, a crowd of 100 people then gathered and threatened to burn the police station down if the six people were not released.

Also in Malang, hundreds of residents from the Gondanglegi area of the city looted a warehouse where Harto Wijoyo, alias A. Hok, was allegedly storing 50 metric tons of rice. The looting started on Saturday evening and lasted until Sunday morning, when the crowd burned the building down.

However, the mob unwittingly destroyed evidence the police were relying upon in an investigation into A. Hok, whom they suspected of hoarding imported rice.

On Monday morning, a crowd in Cerme district, Gresik, looted three shrimp farms with impunity. Police arrived too late to put a stop to the theft. At almost the same time, security forces in Ngawi regency were overwhelmed when villagers began to raid teak plantations in the area.

Brawijaya Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djoko Subroto told the media on Monday that he would not hesitate to issue a shoot-on-the-spot order to his men if looters continued to defy the security forces.

"The looting in East Java has gone way too far," he said, calling on the public to ignore those who tried to incite them to cause anarchy.

Brawls

Meanwhile, in Luwu regency, 460 kilometer north of the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, a brawl between youths from two villages erupted into full blown rioting which killed two and left 18 others injured. One hundred and eighteen houses were also burned down during the incident.

The violence between villagers of Lara and Rante Malino began on Saturday and lasted until Sunday evening, according to the Luwu police. The incident also disrupted traffic between South Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi.

Luwu police chief Undang Rahmansyah said that the 40 police personnel dispatched to the scene were vastly outnumbered by those involved in the violence.

Antara reported that a looting spree also took place Monday morning on a noodle warehouse in Rawa Pudak, Jambi Luar Kota, Batanghari regency in Jambi.

Hit by the worst economic crisis in decades, Indonesia has borne witness to a rising incidence of social unrest over the past year. Earlier this month, major looting sprees broke out in Pontianak, West Kalimantan. However, Tanjungpura Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Suwisma said the looting was not prompted by food shortages, much less hunger.

"West Kalimantan people, especially those in the hinterland, are not suffering from a food shortage," he said as quoted by Antara. (nur/21/37/swe)