Residents come to blows over trivial issues
JAKARTA (JP): Life can be cheap in a metropolitan city like Jakarta.
A dispute over Rp 200 (4 U.S. cents) or a woman's rejection of sexual advances are sometimes enough to send someone to their grave.
The lives of countless city dwellers are snuffed out year after year over such trivial issues. And 1997 was no exception, as illustrated by the following litany of "odd" and "brutal" crimes.
An assistant to a Metro mini driver, Fery Simanjuntak, 23, was stabbed to death on May 16 for refusing to give a local hoodlum Rp 200.
Fery, a newcomer to the city, was stabbed in the stomach at a bus shelter in front of Blok A's traditional market on Jl. R.S. Fatmawati in South Jakarta.
A police officer said Rp 200 was the usual amount hoodlums demanded from Metro mini bus crews as a "security fare".
It remains unknown whether the suspect was apprehended.
A day earlier, a 20-year-old man was beaten to death by residents of Jl. Puspa in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, for stealing a three-gram gold necklace.
His accomplice, Budi, 22, was seriously injured.
The two were set upon by an angry crowd after they allegedly threatened a man and stole his necklace.
On Jan. 11, a man who tried to steal a pair of jeans was fatally attacked by dozens of residents of Jl. Kampung Bulak, Klender in East Jakarta.
Fredy, aged in his 20s, had allegedly grabbed the jeans from a drying rack when he was spotted by the owner of the clothing, who shouted for help. Within a few seconds, the suspect was surrounded.
He suffered severe injuries to his mouth, ears and body and died on the way to hospital.
On Oct. 27, Chief Sgt. Ridwan shot dead a 21-year-old man who allegedly tried to steal a bird from its cage on the terrace of the officer's home in the Cijantung military complex, East Jakarta.
The victim, Dean Martin Suryapraja, 21, died from a single shot to the neck.
Ridwan's action was backed up by his superior who said it was an act of self-defense.
While on-duty police risk their own lives to safeguard the public.
For example, a week before the shooting of the bird thief, a military officer, Chief Sgt. Ahmat Tohir, was stabbed to death while trying to solve a dispute between two groups of market laborers.
A person's home is no longer the haven it was once considered.
In Bekasi on May 28, an 18-year-old maid was stabbed to death after she refused to kiss a man.
Jamilah was having an afternoon bath when a food vendor knocked on the back door to deliver a household food order to the residence on Jl. Makulo in the Bumi Satria Kencana housing complex.
Knowing that Jamilah's employer was not home, the man tried to hug and kiss the maid.
When Jamilah resisted his advances and shouted for help, the food vendor became angry and used a knife to stab her 20 times in the body and head.
The man dragged Jamilah's body into the bathroom and then left the house.
The suspect even accompanied the victim's employer to help find Jamilah but police officers, who worked around-the-clock on the investigation, finally arrested the man.
On June 14, a man was arrested for beating his 13-year-old daughter to death because she tried to wake him up.
The man, Jumadi, a bajaj (motorized three-wheeled vehicle) driver aged in his 40s, became angry when his daughter, Era Maesari, woke him up saying: "Wake up father, work, work."
Jumadi hit his daughter on the head with a monkey wrench and put her body in a bath tub.
Late last week, a father killed his 24-year-old delinquent son to protect his wife and daughter.
Baddarudin, 64, stabbed Muhammad Nurdin in the right side of his chest and slashed him across the right arm and left shoulder.
The homicide occurred after the jobless man, who had served time in prison, refused to obey his father's order that he leave the house and stop intimidating his mother and sister.
Nurdin had asked his mother for Rp 10,000 (US$1.95) to watch a New Year's Eve dangdut music show but was only given half of the amount.
He clashed violently with his father after the elderly man heard his son threaten to hurt his younger sister and kill his mother.
Earlier in the week, about 200 residents of Sentul village in Citeureup, Bogor, clashed after a pet dog attacked a prized chicken.
The owner of the chicken, upon realizing that the bird was injured, shot the dog with his air rifle and swore at his neighbors. He claimed that the dog's owners could never afford to pay for the expensive chicken.
The neighbors were insulted and decided to teach him a lesson: they threw stones and sticks at his house.
In some instances, it seems the criminals outwitted police this year with their daring get-rich-quick schemes.
On July 20, a group of burglars stole a one-ton automatic teller machine (ATM) operated by Bank Danamon's office on Jl. Iskandar Muda in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta.
Police believe the thieves used a small forklift or pickup to remove and transport the machine, which contained millions of rupiah.
It was the third theft of an ATM machine reported to police in the last five months in Jakarta.
On March 30, an ATM owned by Bank International Indonesia was stolen from a supermarket in Depok. The machine, which contained at least Rp 150 million (US$61,224) cash, was found empty in the Sunter River in Bekasi later that evening.
Thieves also stole a Bank Lippo ATM from Kebayoran Lama on April 27. (bsr)