TANGERANG: About 1,500 residents from three subdistricts in the Pinang district of Tangerang municipality staged a violent rally on Monday at the PT Tifico factory on Jl. Raya Serpong to demand the company make good on its unfulfilled promises, including providing jobs for local residents.
H. Suryadi, 55, a resident who lives right behind the factory in East Panunggangan subdistrict, accused PT Tifico, a large textile producer established in 1976, of deliberately rejecting locals for employment at the factory.
He also said that the company had polluted the environment.
Herman, another resident, said that PT Tifico, which employs more than 3,000 workers, also failed to fulfill its promise to share project tenders with local businessmen.
The residents began to gather at the factory compound at 9 a.m. Since no one from the company management met them until 11:30, the protesting residents tore down the factory's gate and forced their way into the compound.
They almost broke into a fight with about 100 police officers who were deployed at the factory.
Several representatives of the local residents were later allowed to meet with company management after lunch to discuss their demands. It began to rain heavily during the meeting, which caused the protesters to disperse.
The Jakarta Post tried to meet with company spokesman Gatot Purwanto for confirmation, but security officers on duty said he was unavailable. -- JP
;JP;ZPH; ANPAj..r.. Greater-Pluit-Apartment Jakpro insists on apartment rental fees JP/8/G-Pluit
Jakpro refuses to back down on rent hike
JAKARTA: PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) reaffirmed that it was going to raise the rents on its apartments in Pluit, despite continued protests by tenants.
Jakpro director Ongky Sukasah said on Monday during a hearing with the City Council that the company had to raise the rent on its Pluit apartments, which are six-by-six meters in size, or type 36, by between 50 percent and 70 percent because of new tax regulations and to cover increasing operational costs.
The rent on a ground floor apartment was increased from Rp 392,000 (approximately US$44) per month to Rp 675,000.
Sukasah said the increases were based on, among other things, an October 2001 decree from the finance minister stipulating that type 36 apartments would be subject to a value added tax, as well as a property tax increase.
Jakpro, which owns 480 type 36 apartments in Pluit, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, was summoned by the City Council's Commission D for development affairs after tenants filed a complaint last month over the rent increase.
Yohanes BD Widjaya, a tenant coordinator, said tenants had accepted that the rent increases were unavoidable, but would have preferred the increases to be implemented gradually.--JP
;JP;MULTA FIDRUS; ANPAj..r.. Tangerang-taxi-robbery Man nabbed for taxi robbery JP/8/GREATER Taxi driver mugger arrested
TANGERANG: A taxi driver being robbed at knifepoint deliberately crashed his vehicle into a parked minivan to alert police on Jl. Daan Mogot, Kebon Kosong subdistrict, Tangerang municipality, on Sunday evening.
Batu Ceper police chief Adj. Comr. Endro said an angry mob then attacked the suspect, identified as Hendar, 20, a resident in Ciamis, West Java, as he tried to rob Alex Sukarno, who was driving a Kosti Jaya taxi.
Endro said the suspect stopped the taxi on Jl. Daan Mogot and asked the driver to take him to Tangerang.
"After about 200 meters, the suspect pulled out a knife and held it to the driver's stomach while ordering him to hand over his money," he said.
The driver said he had money in his wallet, which he put on the dash board. As the suspect checked the wallet, the driver saw an approaching police car and deliberately drove into a public minivan, jumped out of the vehicle and shouted for help.
Local residents who came to his assistance started beating Hendar, who had to be rescued by the police. --JP