Poor facility

I am writing to sympathize with Wiwik Damayanti, who told us in her letter of May 5 in The Jakarta Post of her bad experience at the car parking facilities of Hero, Maskumambang.

I think this is a problem that Hero should address on a wide- scale basis, since the situation at Maskumambang sounds very similar to that of Hero at Jalan Teroggong Raya, Jakarta.

In the car park there I have had my car broken into (luckily the thief did not have time to steal more than a few cassettes, although an attempt had been made to remove my stereo), and vandalized on separate occasions.

The situation in that car park is the same as described by Wiwik Damayanti. Many "unwanted visitors" and "teenage parking attendants" roam the car park trying to make a fast buck and, despite the Parkir Gratis (Free Parking) sign, I am sure a lot of newcomers to Jakarta (many staying at the nearby Kristal Hotel) are systematically being "ripped off".

At night, the situation is particularly bad. The "unwanted guests", including food vendors -- whose carts often make it very difficult to find a park -- stand around looking intimidating and occasionally shouting abuse. Because of this situation I have recently made a decision never to go back to Hero, Jalan Teroggong Raya.

I think this is a problem that the Hero management should face now. I might decide to do business with Hero again if the management can assure customers that Hero is a place to shop without the risk of theft, vandalism and/or verbal abuse.

Name and address

known to the editor