Taxi driver found dead

DEPOK: A taxi driver was found dead in Tapos subdistrict, Cimanggis, Depok, on Monday at around 5.30 a.m.

Officers from Cimanggis police subprecinct have identified the deceased as Murdedi, in his early 30s, who worked as a driver for the Dian Taxi firm.

Uman Triakso, Dian Taxi's shift operations' head, confirmed that the deceased was, in fact, Murdedi, who had been bound by the neck, hands and feet when found.

Strangely however, Uman said that the taxi pool had received a radio report from Murdedi around the time when he was found dead. In fact, the police estimated that Murdedi had been dead from about 2 a.m.

As of the time of going to press, the police had yet to find Murdedi's taxi, license plate number B 2889 LU. --JP

;JP;ZPH; ANPAj..r.. Focus-tourism-roadshow JP/8/G-Aurora

Tourism agency holds road shows

JAKARTA: The city administration will continue to focus on attracting domestic tourists as they had greater potential than foreign tourists given present circumstances, said Aurora Tambunan, the head of the city's tourism agency, on Monday.

Therefore, the agency would hold road shows in several cities across the country, including Medan in North Sumatra, Batam, Denpasar in Bali, Balikpapan in East Kalimantan and Makassar in South Sulawesi, to promote Jakarta as a tourist destination.

Aurora said that the number of domestic tourists visiting Jakarta reached 9 million every year, while the number of foreign tourists only amounted to 1.3 million.

"We hope that through these road shows people from other cities across the country will be encouraged to visit the capital, which offers various kinds of tours, such as shopping tours, cultural tours and maritime tours, as well as conventions and a glimpse of the metropolitan lifestyle," she said.

Aurora said that the capital's tourism industry had been severely hit by bombings in the recent past, including the early August Marriott blast. However, she said that the industry had been gradually recovering. --Antara

;JP;DMR; ANPAj..r.. Focus-robbery-Guess-KGading Thieves hit Guess counter JP/8/Guess

Thieves hit Guess counter

JAKARTA: Thieves ransacked a Guess watches counter on the first floor of the Kelapa Gading Mall in North Jakarta on Monday morning, and escaped with hundreds of wrist watches.

Total losses amounted to more than Rp 500 million.

A counter employee reporting for work at 9 a.m. found that the top of the glass counter had been broken, and the side windows smashed.

Hundreds of watches on show in the counter's display cases had been stolen.

The prices of Guess watches range from between US$ 27 (about 232,000) and $225, according to the Guess homepage.

"This is the second robbery of the counter over the past several months," said Hendra Pratomo of the Guess center's general affairs department.

Hendra reported the case to Jakarta Police Headquarters. He said he was impatient with the slow progress being made by the Kelapa Gading police subprecinct in investigating the earlier robbery. --JP.

;JP;DMR; ANPAj..r.. Focus-bomb-rehearsal Bombing drill panica passers-by JP/8/Rehearsal

Bombing drill panics passers-by

JAKARTA: A bomb planted in a green Datsun car exploded at 11.15 a.m. across from the Artha Graha building in the Sudirman Central Business District in South Jakarta.

In minutes, the police bomb squad had cordoned off the scene, and the deafening sirens of arriving fire trucks filled the air.

Several women in business attire who happened to be passing near the blast site appeared terrified, and attempted to flee the area with their hands over their ears.

However, their panic turned to laughter when they discovered that the "bombing" was only a training exercise carried out jointly by the police, fire brigade and security guards to prepare for further terrorist attacks following the deadly bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel on Aug. 5.

During the exercise, four people pretended to be dead victims, and five others pretended to be suffering from severe injuries. --JP.