Pluit protester denies role as provocateur

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta

Defendant Niu Fatourus, alias Alay, a former tenant of a low-cost apartment in Pluit, challenged a witness' testimony that he had led a mob to damage the apartment manager's office during the eviction of tenants in February.

At a hearing on Tuesday at the North Jakarta District Court, witness Rahmat Fulan, a security guard working for apartment operator PT Jakarta Propertindo, testified that Alay was involved in a fight on Feb. 18 with several public order officers, who had arrived at the scene at about 2 p.m. to carry out the eviction.

"I witnessed the brawling myself from about half a meter," he said. "Alay was knocked down by an officer for obstructing them, but managed to get back on his feet and assault another officer who was standing nearby."

Rahmat said a clash then ensued between the tenants and the officers, and that Alay had led other tenants armed with wooden sticks to obstruct the entry to the nearby manager's office.

"I heard him yelling out to the crowd to seal off the office," he said. "I'm not sure when exactly the whole incident happened, but it was clearly after 4 p.m."

Alay denied being at the scene when given the right to respond by presiding judge Jalaluddin.

He questioned the validity of Rahmat's testimony, saying he had not seen him earlier when he was assaulted by public order officers while resisting eviction.

He furthermore flatly denied leading a mob to the manager's office.

"At that time I was at the Penjaringan Police station reporting the assault," he said.

Alay also said he had never seen the wooden sticks presented to the court as evidence.

If convicted, Alay could face a maximum sentence of six years in prison as stipulated in Article 160 of the Criminal Code for inciting others to commit a crime.

The trial was adjourned until June 29 to hear testimonies by the defendant's witnesses.

The dispute between the Pluit apartment tenants and the managing company started at the end of 2002, when the firm announced a 72 percent hike in rent for 2003.

When most of the tenants refused to pay the increase, Propertindo responded by cutting off the tenants' water and electricity.