People queue for hours to get cash at ATMs
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)