Villagers vent rage over scam in rice sales

TANGERANG (JP): Hundreds of residents of Kedung Dalam village in Mauk district ran amok yesterday after they learned their village chief had sold 3.5 metric tons of government-subsidized rice to a middleman.

The angry residents, most of whom had not eaten any rice in the past two days, smashed chairs and flowerpots at the chief's house and stoned his office and vandalized its furniture, shutters and windows.

Nobody was injured or arrested.

During a meeting between residents and local officials, village chief Sapiudin claimed he had to first sell the rice to a local trader on Wednesday as the supplier, the State Logistics Agency, demanded cash at the time.

He said he planned to purchase the rice back as soon as possible in order to distribute the staple food, whose price has been rocketing in the past few days, to the people.

When Sapiudin's statement was repeated to trader Rohadi, the latter admitted the transaction but denied the chief ever planned to buy the rice back from him.

"I bought the rice for Rp 1,200 (11 U.S. cents) per kilogram from Sapiudin and I planned to sell it at Rp 1,800 a kilogram," middleman Rohadi said.

The rice delivered by the logistics agency on Wednesday was part of the government's program to help needy residents cope with the soaring price of the commodity.

It should have been sold to the residents at Rp 1,200 per kilogram, which is less than half of the market price.

The residents easily discovered the chief's alleged wrongdoing because the middleman lived in the same neighborhood.

They initially went to the village chief's residence.

"As we got no satisfactory explanation from the chief, some of us overturned the chairs and some flowerpots at Sapiudin's house," said Sanwani, a resident who participated in the protest.

They then marched to the village office which they stoned before destroying several items inside.

Hundreds of elementary school students whose school is located next to the village office ran out of their classes to see what the disturbance was all about.

Some of the students even joined the residents in damaging the office.

The situation threatened to get out of control when some people encouraged others to set the office on fire.

"Burn, burn, burn the office," shouted one voice from the crowd.

But others managed to prevent the residents from burning the office, saying that it would also gut the school.

Dozens of police and soldiers then arrived at the scene. They ordered the residents to stop their protest.

The residents left the scene after the officers repeatedly asked them to do so.

Residents of nearby Sasak and Jati Waringin villages also reported that rice which should have been sold to them for Rp 1,200 kilogram did not reach them.

"Much of the rice was bought by the local officials themselves. Some was sold to stalls for Rp 1,200 a kilogram. The stalls then sold the rice to us for Rp 1,800 a kilogram," Dedeh, a resident of Sasak village, said. (41/jun)