Thugs continue to terrorize Jakarta
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration, city police and military have launched a month-long campaign against thugs in the capital. The following is the first of a series of articles on thugs, who continue to instill fear in Jakarta residents.
It is 1 a.m. as Vicky, 24, steps out of a public bus and rushes toward a minivan waiting for passengers on Jl. Mayjen Sutoyo across from the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) in East Jakarta.
Before he can get into the minivan, Vicky, who works as a hotel employee in South Jakarta, is stopped by three mean-looking men who demand that he surrender all of his money.
Fearing that he might be hurt by the three thugs, Vicky gives an envelop containing his first month's salary to the three.
"I didn't even know the exact amount of money inside the envelope I received that day," said Vicky, adding that the envelope was still sealed.
Instead of helping Vicky, dozens of people at the crime site looked on impassively. Some even fled, perhaps out of fear that they would fall prey to the hoodlums.
After taking the envelope, the thugs asked where he was living and gave him back some small change; just enough to reach home.
Luckily, Vicky was not hurt, even though he arrived home empty-handed after waiting for his first salary for one month. Vicky had just started working at a hotel in South Jakarta.
"I gave them my money because I saw someone being stabbed one night by several thugs who dominate the UKI area," he said.
On another occasion, three young women were taking a taxi to a five-star hotel on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta at around 6 p.m. to eat together.
On the way to the hotel four men stopped the taxi on Jl. K.H. Mas Mansyur in Tanah Abang market.
One man stood in front of the car, one at the right rear door, one at the rear left and another at the back leaning on the trunk.
The man at the rear left door suddenly opened the unlocked door and demanded cash from the three girls.
"What do you want?" asked Pingkan Juliatrixe, who sat in the front in a low voice.
"We want your money!" the man outside said.
With courage Pingkan said that she did not have much money and that she had just finished work in a building located one block from the crime site.
The thug, however, kept on asking for money. "We need money so we can eat," he said.
Fearing for her life, Pingkan pulled out a Rp 20,000 bill from her purse and gave it to the men, who immediately let the taxi go.
The two incidents are just some of the frightening encounters with the omnipresent thugs in the capital.
Thugs are virtually everywhere in the city of some 12 million people. Shopping centers, markets, malls, hospitals, traffic lights and even housing complexes are common places for thugs to operate, who freely extort money from people.
Traders at both modern and traditional markets in the capital are required to pay protection money of between Rp 5,000 and Rp 25,000 per day, depending on what they sell, to thugs operating in their area.
The city administration, police and military launched a month- long campaign against thugs two weeks ago across the capital and have so far arrested close to 1,000 hoodlums. None of them, however, have been charged.
Experts doubt, however, that the move could wipe out thugs from the city, saying that the drive would only force them to go underground and return when the operation was over. (004)