Many new crimes rocked Jakarta in 1996

JAKARTA (JP): No cities, no crimes. That might be the right expression for Jakarta, home to at least 9.5 million people.

Like previous years crimes like murder, robbery, theft, assault and student brawls dominated the city's crimes this year.

Although the number of crimes was about the same as last year's 22,755 reported crimes, there were new trends.

Just as technology has progressed in leaps and bounds so has crime.

Many Jakartans have been impressed by many "new" crimes.

These crimes seemed to be unique and have different motives than common crimes and many people saw this as a new phenomena ahead of the 1997 general election.

Among the most sensational cases were a serial killer who sodomized at least 10 teenage street boys before killing them, armed robberies of bank customers, robberies and murders of taxi drivers, art thefts and bank frauds.

The city became aware early this year that it had a serial sodomite and killer when residents of Pondok Kopi, East Jakarta, and Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, found the seventh and eighth victims had similar wounds to earlier victims.

The victims were found naked or half-naked with their stomachs torn out. The stomach wounds were shaped like the letters L, C or U and were between 14 and 90 centimeters long. Their throats were also cut. In most cases, police found only a razor and the victims' clothes near the decomposing bodies.

After months of investigation police arrested Siswanto, alias Robot, 32, on July 27 at a railway station in Tegal, Central Java.

The suspect was a vendor who had lived in a slum area of Senen, Central Jakarta, since he was six years old.

The arrest of Siswanto eased the worries of many Jakartans who feared for their children's safety.

All of the boys were aged between nine and 15 years.

Eight of the 10 boys' bodies were found over the past two years at the vacant Kemayoran airport in Central Jakarta and in Pondok Kopi, East Jakarta. The remaining two were found in Kroya and Purwokerto in Central Java.

While the dossier on Siswanto's dossier has lingered for unclear reasons two other men were tried for pedophilia.

Robberies

The year was a success for armed robbers targeting bank customers.

Two people were killed and at least Rp 700 million was stolen in such robberies.

Most of the victims had just withdrawn between Rp 20 million and Rp 166 million cash from banks.

The robberies became more brutal after police arrested about 40 people in July believed to have been involved in a series of bank customer robberies since 1990.

Police said several suspects operated in big cities in Malaysia, Singapore, the United States and Hong Kong.

Police still do not know where the robbers got their guns.

One notable case was the death of private employee Zaenuddin Lesmana on the Jagorawi tollroad on Oct. 11 was one example. Three men in a Kijang van, one carrying a type of gun issued to soldiers, intersected Zaenuddin's sedan, stole Rp 350 million cash and shot him. The attackers left Zaenuddin's two companions unhurt inside the sedan.

Police found another Rp 300 million in Zaenuddin's sedan's trunk.

One of the unharmed men, Tjetje Tadjudin, who became a suspect in the robbery, was tortured to death in Bogor Police custody.

The three attackers are still at large and their motive for shooting Zaenuddin is unknown.

Taxi drivers

At least five taxi drivers were robbed and killed by their passengers and several were wounded while escaping from the robbers.

The suspects included teenage boys and girls.

The robbers always assaulted or killed uncooperative drivers.

The first victim was Abdullah, 35, from the Hera Utama taxi company. His decomposing body was found on Feb. 6 in bushes behind a cinema in Jatiuwung, Tangerang, 30 kilometers west of Jakarta. He was stabbed repeatedly. His taxi and wallet were missing.

The second was Dede Kuswara, 47, from the Centris firm. He was found dead in his taxi Cikampek-Bekasi turnpike on June 1. He had been stabbed 30 times and his wallet was missing.

On July 4, Sirjon Naibaho, 37, from the Dian Taksi company, was found dead 200 meters from his vehicle in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta. He suffered stab wounds to his throat, face and stomach. His wallet was stolen.

The next day, taxi driver Maryani, 40, from the Maya Kencana firm, was found dead. His body was blue. Police believe the two wounds on his neck came from a poisoned dagger. He was found in his taxi on Jl. Raya Tawakal in Grogol, West Jakarta.

On Oct. 11, four youths aged between 15 and 20 years stabbed to death Suratno, 32, of Dian taxi company. His body was found on Jl. Intan near the Fatmawati hospital in Cilandak, South Jakarta. He had been stabbed 14 times and his head was almost severed from his neck.

The four youths were arrested by Depok police soon afterwards.

City taxi drivers feared for their safety and said their secret emergency alarms were no help.

"How can I reach the button if the robber has already put a sickle around my neck?" asked one driver.

Art theft

Another high profile crime was the theft of 25 paintings from the National Museum's state collection.

Five paintings by world-renowned Indonesian masters ended up on the list for Christie's Oct. 6. Singapore auction. They were withdrawn from the auction after media reports from Jakarta.

After tough negotiations Singaporean collector Michael Lee agreed to "donate" the paintings to Indonesian government on Sept. 26.

Several days later Jakarta police seized 17 other paintings, mostly by French painters, at a house Lee rented in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta. Police have named Lee as the fence in the theft.

The remaining three paintings were seized from Lee on Nov. 24.

Four museum employees, Bambang Widoyono, Komari, Supadi and Syahril, were arrested for stealing the paintings.

The four met Lee in March through a former museum employee who is still at large.

House collections were also targeted. On Oct. 2 burglars broke into Ajip Rosidi's house on Jl. Rawa Bambu, South Jakarta and stole five paintings by Indonesian masters worth hundreds of millions of rupiah.

The thieves are still at large and the paintings have yet to be found.

BI scam

In July Bank Indonesia was rocked by a fake Rp 7 billion transaction. It was the first fraud in the central bank's 43-year history.

About Rp 5.4 billion (in cash, time deposits and travelers cheques) has been recovered.

The fraud involved three of the bank's treasury officials and two outsiders.

The fraud was strange because the central bank only deals with commercial banks.

The crime was detected on July 15 when the central bank's section in charge of money in circulation found the bank's Kota branch had not received a transfer from the Thamrin headquarters.

The suspects have not yet been tried.

Ecstasy

One of the most popular crime stories was the drug Ecstasy's popularity rise.

The most famous Ecstasy case was that of budding television actress Zarina who was arrested for possessing 29,677 pills.

The haul on Aug. 7. was the Tangerang police's biggest. The pills were found at Zarina's house in Joglo, West Jakarta.

Things soon became a comical catastrophe when the 24-year-old escaped from a police escort the next day.

After the escape, head of the Tangerang CID police, Capt. Ade Sutiana, who led the escort, was removed from his post and detained for negligence. Head of the Tangerang Police precinct, Lt. Col. Djoko Satryo was also replaced.

Three months later, on Nov. 4., Zarina was arrested in Houston, the United States, by U.S. immigration officials accompanied by Jakarta police.

Her case has been handed over to the Provincial Prosecutors Office and she is expected to be tried soon.

Not a single month passed without a seizure of Ecstasy pills which have a market value of between Rp 50,000 and Rp 125,000 (US$22 and $54) each.

Authorities raided and temporarily closed several discotheques believed to be Ecstasy traffickers' and users' favorites.

At Soekarno-Hatta International Airport customs officials seized 255,485 Ecstasy pills and arrested dozens of smugglers: four locals, four Singaporeans, five Dutch nationals and an Irish national.

A record 70,431 Ecstasy pills were seized by airport customs officials on Dec. 1. from two Singaporeans who just got off a Cathay Pacific flight from Paris to Jakarta via Hong Kong.

The second largest haul was on April 28 when customs officers found more than 60,000 pills in a bag which its owner had left behind so another syndicate member, an airport worker, could collect it later from the lost and found office.

Four people involved in the foiled smuggling attempt were jailed for between one and three years this month. One was the wife of a local film star.

Officials failed to find the owners of 1,304 pills.

A director of PT Sibena Indo Speed, Roger Widjoyo, who is suspected of smuggling 29,083 pills on Aug. 3 is still at large. Roger flew from Amsterdam and kept the pills in a speaker.

The latest effort to smuggle Ecstasy through Soekarno-Hatta airport was on Dec. 16 when two Singaporeans who flew Cathay Pacific from Paris to Jakarta via Hong Kong were caught with 16,437 pills.

The authorities seriousness in combating Ecstasy at nightspots was challenged in July when police arrested influential entertainment figure Hendro Sumampouw, the owner of Hailai discotheque in Ancol, North Jakarta, for having marijuana cigarettes and Ecstasy pills in his car in July.

City officials said they would close the discotheque but changed their minds three months later saying they had no legal grounds to close a discotheque permanently.

"We can be sued for revoking its operation permit just because its boss is guilty," said city public order office head Kusaeni Budiantoro who pledged to close Hailai if Hendro was found guilty.

In September, the North Jakarta District Court found Hendro guilty and sentenced him to three months jail with a six month probationary period, and fined him Rp 5 million (US$2,173).

Hailai is a tourist attraction. About 600 people go there every night and 40 percent of the visitors are foreigners.

Ecstasy, which generally comes from Europe, killed four people, including a 26-year-old woman and a police sergeant. The other two victims were unidentified.

Soraya Faradiba was found dead with her mouth foaming at the Atlanta discotheque in West Jakarta on July 5. Forensic experts said she died from an Ecstasy overdose.

The policeman died at West Jakarta's Zodiac discotheque, also from an Ecstasy overdose.

Riot

The most unforgettable event was the July 27 riot in Central Jakarta.

It started when supporters of Surjadi, the officially-backed chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party, tried to take over the party's headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro from supporters of ousted chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

For two days darkness from the smoke of 20 fires engulfed the long stretch between Jl. Kramat Raya, Jl. Salemba Raya and Jl. Matraman Raya in Central Jakarta.

The nearby Jl. Diponegoro, Jl. Proklamasi, Jl. Cikini Raya. Jl. Surabaya and Jl. Pegangsaan were also dark except for explosions from burning structures.

According to the National Commission on Human Rights five people died, 149 injured while 23 were still missing.

At least 22 buildings, including seven banks, were damaged or burned. Ninety-one vehicles, including five buses and two motorcycles, were incinerated.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange plunged 3.7 percent when trade resumed on Monday, July 29, as nervous investors dumped Indonesian stocks.

Over 200 people were arrested and many jailed for ignoring police orders.

Many worry riots will happen again in the lead-up to the 1997 general election.

However, noted soothsayers said they saw no riots in 1997.

They said 1997 was the Year of the Ox according to the Chinese calender and riots were not in the year's character.

This year was the Year of the Rat so people flocked together which could easily spark chaos, they said.

So, be a good ox! (bsr)