Scavengers turn violent after ban on looting

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of people attacked vehicles and extorted money from motorists in North Jakarta after they were barred from stripping construction materials from a deserted auto assembly plant on Monday.

The people, most of whom were scavengers and used goods vendors, became enraged after security officers prevented them from collecting steel and other construction materials from the 10 warehouses and two office buildings at the site on Jl. Lodan.

"They vented their anger on passing vehicles by smashing them with anything they could get their hands on," said Mulyono, a used goods vendors from Teluk Gong in West Jakarta.

Police have yet to make any arrests in connection with the incident.

A sign was erected at the entrance to the site stating that it was now under the supervision of the local district head.

A crowd gathered opposite the site under the elevated harbor toll road and settled down to await further opportunities to enter the site.

Mulyono said that the Monday morning attacks on passing motorists stopped when police and soldiers arrived on the scene about an hour after trouble had first broken our.

"The troops fired warning shots when the crowd refused to disperse," he recalled.

If they had shot anybody, the situation would have become much worse," Mulyono said, adding that the crowd eventually dispersed peacefully.

He insisted that similar incidents could only be avoided if the security forces granted the scavengers access to the site.

"We don't want to disturb anybody. If the officers ask for money to buy cigarettes, we'd give it to them as long as they allow us to enter to collect the material," Mulyono said.

Inside the deserted compound, fully-armed soldiers and police officers stood guard at the site which scavengers have swarmed over in recent weeks.

M. Fadrun, 55, a security guard at the site, said that people began plundering the site last month. The plant shut down in 1993.

"The people, most of whom are local residents, arrived here about 10 days before the Ramadhan fasting month began," he said.

Fadrun said that people had been collecting materials from the site 24-hours a day, ignoring attempts by security guards to get them to leave.

"When they saw guards, they scurried away from the area, waited patiently just out of site and then returned as soon as the guards left," he said.

He also said that at least four security guards posted at the site by the now liquidated Bank Umum Nasional (BUN) had been attacked after attempting to usher scavengers off the site.

"At first, we used to ask them to leave and watch the site. If hours passed and we did not move an inch, the mob started pelting stones at us," he said.

The site formerly belonged to the liquidated bank and is now under the supervision of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

Inside the building, an old concrete sign reads that the initial construction of the building was inaugurated by noted businessman M.N.M. Hasyim Ning in his capacity as president of C.V. Indonesian Service Company.

Fadrun said that security guards had informed IBRA officials of the problem, but added that they had not received a satisfactory response.

"The security guards coordinator met IBRA officials last month to discuss the situation here, but the officials said 'just let them be'," he explained.

On Saturday and Sunday, a stream of people flowed back and forth at the site, hauling plunder to trucks and carts parked nearby.

They only be dispersed on Sunday afternoon after a troop of 400 soldiers were deployed at the site, but reappeared on Monday intent on carting off yet more of the plant.

According to city police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang, the scavengers must have thought the site was unoccupied meaning that they were free to take anything they wanted.

He added that the owner of the site had yet to report any problem, leaving the police powerless to charge anyone with stealing or looting.

Separately, Governor Sutiyoso expressed concern over the situation and said he was disappointed by the matter.

"I have told North Jakarta Mayor (Subagyo) that it is too much to allow the scavengers to pillage in the holy month of Ramadhan.

He (the mayor) himself should look into the matter personally," he said.

According to Subagyo, some of the looters have come from as far away as Karawang and Serang in West Java.

The mayor urged the site's owner to sell what construction materials remained instead of allowing looting to continue. Looting, he said, only created more problems for the local authorities. (ivy/emf/ylt/ind)