Police say cheap market fiasco was only petty theft

JAKARTA (JP): The total loss from looting which occurred at a two-day cheap market at the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta on Saturday reached only about Rp 7 million (US$538), not Rp 20 million as reported earlier, an officer said yesterday.

Gambir Police deputy chief First. Lt. Andries Hermanto insisted, however, that the taking of cooking oil by hundreds of visitors at the stand of Bandeng market cooperative was not an act of looting.

"It was only a kind of petty theft. They only took the cooking oil away without paying. Moreover, there also was no chaos or damage," Andries said.

He said no one was questioned or arrested because the owner of the stand did not report the incident to the police.

Central Jakarta Mayor Andi Subur Abdullah agreed with Andries' statement. "I was there until 10 a.m. and didn't see any acts of looting," Andi said.

Andries criticized the organizing committee of the cheap market for not consulting with police about the layout of the 50 stands set up at the cheap market.

The distance between each stand was so narrow that visitors were forced to jostle with each other at stands of interest, especially the ones selling cooking oil, he said.

About 400 police and military personnel were deployed when the market was opened by President B.J. Habibie at 6:30 a.m on Saturday, but only 28 of them remained in the area after the President left the market.

Antara news agency reported on Saturday that about 500 people looted the Bandeng market cooperative stand and took away 170 crates, each containing 12 kilograms of oil, without paying.

The incident occurred at 7:30, an hour after Habibie opened the market which was aimed at providing city dwellers with essential foodstuffs at an affordable price.

Firman, the cooperative's chief, told the news agency on Saturday that the incident had caused a loss of Rp 20 million and said that he would think long and hard before selling cooking oil again.

"We could not stop the looters so we decided to let them take it all," said Firman.

Andries, who accompanied Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Adi Sasono to the cheap market yesterday, said that between one and two tons of cooking oil was taken by people.

Andries said he received a telephone call from the National Police headquarters about the incident.

He said there was no additional deployment of security officers yesterday.

The cooperative stand closed at 10 a.m yesterday after its remaining merchandise sold out, he said.

PT Indofood Sukses Makmur stand, which also sold cooking oil, closed earlier than scheduled yesterday because the staff were afraid of the possibility of fresh looting.

Stand attendant Mimih Siregar said they closed the stand after opening for only an hour because they were afraid they could not handle hundreds of people who wanted to buy cooking oil.

Hundreds of people still queued in front of the PT Sinar Mas stand, which sold Filma cooking oil yesterday. A number of police officers were on duty.

Many people were forced to line up in front of the stand for hours just to buy cooking oil at Rp 500 cheaper per liter than the market price. No incidents occurred.

The market closed at 5 p.m without any official closing ceremony. (jun)