People queue for hours to get cash at ATMs

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta residents were forced to queue for hours at automatic teller machines (ATMs) in shopping centers and business areas yesterday after last week's temporary bank closures prompted by Thursday's rioting.

Long queues were seen at BCA, Bank BNI and Bank Lippo automatic teller machines. Some customers had to wait for three hours to make cash withdrawals.

Among branch ATMs swamped from 8 a.m. onwards were the BCA office in the Sarinah Building, Djakarta Theater and Plaza Indonesia in Central Jakarta; and BCA in Wisma Dharmala and Wisma Bumiputera in South Jakarta.

Sumadi Mangunsubroto, 47, a queuing customer at Djakarta Theater, said he had been standing for two hours.

"I do not have any money left. I've been trying to look for an ATM since Friday but all were broken or looted. I haven't been able to pay my telephone bill," he said.

He said that his wife was also getting worried because they had no food stocks left.

"I can't buy food if I don't have cash in my hand," the father of three said.

Another customer queuing outside Sarinah said she only had Rp 1,500 left in her wallet.

"My son is sick and my daughter has not yet completely recovered from dengue fever. I really do not know where else to go if this ATM runs out of cash," Miriana, a Pademangan resident, said.

Many people traveled long distances because shops and ATMs near their residences had been destroyed.

The riots have also disrupted a number of other essential activities, including education.

However, this has proven to be advantageous to some of this year's university applicants, who will be offered places without having to sit entrance exams.

A spokeswoman for Trisakti University, Hasijani H. Wahjono, told The Jakarta Post that high school applicants would be accepted without tests.

"We could not possibly set exams in this situation. We will therefore select students according to their educational records," Hasijani said.

"In this situation we must let their natural ability and skills speak for themselves. If they are good students, they will survive. If not, they will drop out," she said.

Applicants to Atmajaya Catholic University may be similarly fortunate.

"We have not yet decided whether new students will be accepted without any tests, but probably, if the situation gets worse, we will abandon plans to test them," an administrator at the university who asked for anonymity said.

Ibnu Chaldun University has already decided that it will hold no entrance exams this year.

"We cannot hold tests because the situation does not allow it. We haven't even had a chance to prepare the examination material yet," Budi Santosa from the administration section said.

High school students met by the Post along Jl. Sabang, Central Jakarta, were searching for a shop able to prepare the photographs required for university applications.

"I'm afraid that I will not be able to complete my application because of the riots. It has been hard to find a photocopy center and photo developer which are open and the deadline for submitting the application is tomorrow," Fendy, an 18-year-old high school student, said. (edt)