'Many places in city no longer safe'

Street crimes, including extortion aboard public buses are on the rise. They are among a total of 4,320 cases of street crimes reported to the city police to date this year. The Jakarta Post talked to several city residents about the issue.

Mina, not his real name, 28, is unemployed. He resides in West Jakarta:

The alarming rise in street crimes is a threat to all city residents. Many places in the city are no longer safe.

I remember some time back when I went to Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta, three thugs boarded the public minivan I was riding.

There were an elderly man and woman in the minivan besides me at the time. The three crooks started to threaten us with a knife. Two of them forced the elderly passengers, who were clearly terrified, to hand over their money. They gave the crooks Rp 50,000 each.

I was scared too at the time but could do nothing as one of them was blocking the exit. I told them that I was just a university student who had nothing valuable.

To avoid conflict, I gave them only Rp 2,000. The driver was powerless to do anything, and stopped the van when they asked.

The crooks took off through a small lane on Jl. Dewi Sartika in East Jakarta. I got off the van a minute later.

In view of my experience, I urge the city police to be more responsive and to be vigilant in places that are prone to street crime. Otherwise these criminals will be free to exhort money on public transportation vehicles and city residents will never feel secure.

Yanti, 20, is a sidewalk vendor who sells newspapers and magazines in Pasar Rumput, South Jakarta. She resides in Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta, with her relatives:

I think it's true that street crime is rising in some areas in the city. I see that there are now many crooks hanging around bus shelters here. Economic hardship might have forced them to make that choice, I guess.

I imagine dozens of them operate on the streets after office hours. In heavy traffic they would extort money from drivers.

They openly force their victims to give them Rp 1,000 to Rp 2,000. If they are rejected, they would behave rudely by banging on the car windows or even threatening the people inside.

But, I try to ignore them as long as they don't try to bother me or my possessions.

However, now I feel a bit relieved to note that they are not around so much any more. Perhaps, this is due to the regular patrol of police officers around here. Some of them have even been arrested.

I agree with the anticipatory actions of police in this respect. The rise in the number of street criminals is a threat to city residents in general.

Sometimes I worry that they will threaten me too. Thank God, I have been selling magazines here for almost two years and they have never harassed me despite the fact that I'm just a woman.

Salju, 24, is sidewalk vendor on Jl. Jatinegara, East Jakarta, who sells glasses. He lives in Kayu Manis, East Jakarta with his wife and their only daughter:

I think that street crimes are on the rise. But, luckily not many street criminals dare to operate here.

Perhaps they are afraid of being caught and mobbed. Besides, we are located near the East Jakarta Police Precinct, so criminals would think twice about operating here.

But what is most distressing is the increasing number of hoodlums who extort money from us. As a vendor, personally, I don't feel safe at all working here because the thugs are rough.

If we dared to refuse to pay them, they would trouble us. We have no other option but to give them Rp 1,000 every day rather than coming into conflict with them.

In addition, I have to pay around Rp 3,000 every month to thugs as protection money. Annually we also pay Rp 300,000 to them, which they say is shared with the police.

I wonder why the police are not ashamed about soliciting money from people of low income like most of the vendors here.

-- Leo Wahyudi S