Scam artist arrested for theft
TANGERANG: A bogus journalist was arrested by the police on Tuesday for allegedly stealing a cellular phone in a public minivan near Cimone bus terminal in Tangerang municipality.
The 18-year-old victim, Dwi Widiyanti, said that she and a friend were in the public minivan when the suspect, identified as Lister Manalu Sidikalang, 31, got in.
"As soon as the man sat down, he massaged my knee. He then did the same thing to other passengers while distributing brochures for alternative therapy," said the first-year college student.
She said after he got off the minivan right in front of a department store in Cimone, she realized that her cellular phone she put in her pocket was missing.
She and her friend then got off the minivan and looked for Lister. When they found him, he denied having stolen her cellular phone, saying that he was a journalist from a weekly tabloid and showed them a press card.
"Let's go to the police, I am not afraid," the victim quoted the suspect as saying.
The argument had attracted many people, who then became angry and wanted to attack the man.
By coincidence, a traffic police officer passed by and took the suspect to the police headquarters.
After being interrogated, the suspect then admitted to stealing the cellular phone, which he then passed on to his three colleagues, who were dressed like office workers, in the minivan.--JP
;JP;BBN; ANPAj..r.. Focus-monorail-proposal City studies monorail proposal JP/8/GREATER
City to study monorail proposal
JAKARTA: The city administration plans to carefully study a proposal from a Malaysian firm, M Trans Holding, which expressed its wish to construct a monorail project to help ease the chronic problems of the city transportation.
Assistant to the city secretary for development affairs Irzal Djamal said he expected to receive this weekend the feasibility report, which will become the basis for the issuance of a concession permit to the Indonesian Transit Central (ITC) by Governor Sutiyoso.
ITC is the consortium which will manage the project.
Irzal said that he was tasked by the governor to study the feasibility document to see whether the project could be integrated with the overall plan for the transportation system being developed by the city administration.
"One of the things that is important to us is the price for passengers, and whether the price is feasible for the average Indonesian," Irzal said.
The Malaysian firm is prepared to invest Rp 3.28 trillion (US$400 million) in the first stage of the project, including the construction of stations.
The company plan to construct the monorail connecting Bekasi and Tangerang, passing through the city, including Jl. Casablanca.--JP