Two people shot in West Java riot
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Mass rioting erupted when locals clashed with police in the West Java town of Purwakarta on Thursday, leaving at least two people shot and three vehicles, including two police cars, set ablaze.
The melee also left the city's Jakarta-Bandung route paralyzed for more than 12 hours as some 2,000 villagers fought with local police at around 12:30 a.m. on the main highway at Plered just outside of town.
All vehicles that arrived in Purwakarta from Bandung were forced to divert to Padalarang, before heading towards Jakarta via the Puncak route.
Cars from Jakarta, meanwhile, had to take the Subang-Lembang route in order to get to Bandung.
Traffic jams worsened when the remains of the burned-out cars were left smoldering on the highway.
The unrest was sparked by word of an extortion attempt against women workers returning from abroad by a minibus driver and his assistant who drove them home to Purwakarta.
One of the women, named as Neneng Rochyati -- a resident from Panyindangan village in Cilalawi subdistrict, nine kilometers south from the town -- then cried for help, prompting local residents to run after the car.
They finally managed to seize the two suspects and handed one of them, Sri Harno, to local police.
But later, a mob of angry people formed and demanded that the man be handed back to them; the police refused to do so, however.
The agitated people then ran amok and set fire to the hired minibus and two police cars.
The police later fired shots at the crowd, wounding two people identified as Deden, 18, and Kajang, 12. The victims were being treated for gunshot wounds at the Banyu Asih General Hospital in Purwakarta on Thursday night.
"Police shoot without warning -- and this takes place even after the mob retreats from their position," eyewitness Muhyidin recalled.
Deputy Purwakarta Police Chief Adj. Comr. Syamsul Bachri claimed his officers only fired rubber bullets in the incident; residents, however, contested the assertion, saying they found live ammunition on the ground.
By late afternoon, tensions still engulfed the small town as local security personnel remained on high alert amid the severe traffic jams that formed during the confrontation.
Police worked hard to calm the situation, along with local community and Muslim leaders, who asked the rioting residents to clear the streets.
Syamsul added that the two suspects were in police custody in Purwakarta. He promised that the police would pay for the medical expenses of the two injured people.
Local legislators, meanwhile, slammed the police for firing on the crowd. "Such hasty shooting should be avoided -- this is the second time in the last 30 days," said Husen Naji, a member of the Purwakarta district legislative council.
In addition, he claimed to have shells of some of the live bullets found at the scene.
Female migrant workers returning from overseas have in the past been targeted by extortionists, starting from their very arrival at the airport, until they return home.
The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration has even set up a special terminal at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for Indonesian workers departing or arriving from abroad to stop extortion by customs officials.
Such measures in the past, however, have not always been so effective.