Passengers complain of surge in train crimes
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Commuter train passengers have complained about the high frequency of robberies on trains, demanding the management of the railway stations, PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), take serious action against such crimes.
A group of robbers consisting of three to seven people armed with sharp weapons like knives, machetes and ice picks often robs people on the commuter trains, particularly when only few other passengers are present.
"I was robbed last month by three people armed with a wooden stick, machete and an ice pick. They stole Rp 60,000 in cash but returned my wallet," Sarbini, a vendor on the commuter train, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
According to Sarbini, who sells items on the train running from Kota station, West Jakarta, to Rangkasbitung, Banten, said a number of his friends had told him that they had also had similar experiences.
Financial losses experienced by the victims start from only thousands and run to millions of rupiah. Maya Darmaya, 32, a resident of Indramayu, West Java, reported that she lost Rp 80 million in cash when seven robbers threatened her with sharp weapons on June 25.
Maya reported the incident to Pademangan subprecinct police station in North Jakarta. Two other reports to the police station came from Sumarno, who lost Rp 2.5 million, and Betti Heryani, who lost Rp 250,000 on June 30. All three incidents occurred at Kampung Bandan station, North Jakarta.
Head of Kota station's security unit Djinandir admitted that his forces, with assistance from the police from Taman Sari, West Jakarta, and Pademangan subprecinct, had not been able to resolve the problems, saying his security officers had not yet arrested robbers on the trains.
Kota station comes under the jurisdiction of Taman Sari subprecinct police while Kampung Bandan station falls under Pademangan sub-precinct.
Like Sarbini, many other victims of robbery were reluctant to report such incidents to train security or police officers as they thought it would not help them to regain their money.
"Why should I report such a robbery to the police as I know that my money will not be returned and the police will not try to arrest the robbers," said Sarbini, who sells compact disks to train passengers.
Sarbini complained that although such criminal activity had long occurred on commuter trains, the train management or the police had made no serious effort to stop it.
But Djinandir denied that train security had done nothing to try to put an end to the crime on trains, although he did admit that their efforts had failed to prevent the crime from recurring.
According to him, he had set up a 10-member special team to deal with crimes at Kampung Bandan station. The team was assisted by seven police officers from Pademangan, and four from Taman Sari police subprecinct.
"I don't know why our plainclothes security officers did not apprehend any thieves during the operation. Maybe the latter have spies familiar with the faces of my officers," Djinandir added.
A similar statement was made by head of Pademangan police subprecinct Comr. Wahyu Widodo, saying his officers had so far only been able to shoot dead one robber early this month. No one was arrested although usually the thieves worked as a group.