[sustran] fwd: more on Jakarta pedicab raids and violence

[Paul Barter]

The Jakarta Post
August 15, 2001

Man dies as pedicab raid turns violent 

JAKARTA (JP): One official was killed and two others were injured when a
crackdown by city public order officials on becak (pedicab) drivers turned
violent in Roxy and nearby Grogol on Tuesday.

Hundreds of angry pedicab drivers aided by crowds of people armed themselves
with molotov cocktails, machetes, steel bars and stones. They set fire to
two pick-up trucks belonging to the city administration and beat an official
to death in the riot provoked by an attempt by the authorities to evict them
from the main streets in the area. 

The riot also caused damage to eight other cars and a motorcycle and
prompted Roxy Mas International Trade Center to suspend its business. 

Eyewitnesses said the riot started when the becak drivers and the crowds
attacked some 500 officials from the city administration arriving at Jl.
Zainul Arifin, West Jakarta, to raid pedicabs operating there. 

Raya Siahaan, the head of the city's center for monitoring social disorder,
said the becak drivers apparently had prior knowledge of the raid and
greeted officials with all weapons they had. 

They stoned five cars dropping off officials coming for the crackdown at
10.30 am. The officials responded by trying to hit rioters with their
batons. They fled, however, when they realized they were outnumbered. 

The rioters chased the officials and set fire to a Toyota Kijang car owned
by the city administration. 

Central Jakarta Police officers tried to disperse the mob by firing tear
gas. 

Some continued to chase officials escaping toward Jl. Hashim Asyari, Central
Jakarta, while some others marched toward Jl. Kiyai Tapa and Jl. S. Parman
in Grogol, West Jakarta. 

On Jl. Hashim Asyari near Roxy Mas International Trade Center, they badly
beat an official named Matsani and burned down another car belonging to the
municipal administration. 

Matsani, 52, died after being treated at a nearby hospital. 

The crowd moving toward Grogol destroyed two cars also owned by the city
administration. After reaching the former West Jakarta mayoralty building on
Jl. S. Parman they destroyed several cars and a motorcycle. 

Siahaan insisted that the municipal administration would continue to
crackdown on becak. 

"The incident will not stop us from conducting raids on pedicabs," he said,
arguing that the city administration had banned becak from operating in the
city through Regulation No. 11/1988. 

Central Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang said that they had
yet to arrest any suspect in the incident. 

"We will continue to investigate the case," he said. 

On Monday, some 74 pedicab drivers set up a union with the support of Urban
Poor Consortium, a non-governmental organization, to fight attempts to evict
them from the city. 

The Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) condemned the raid saying it was against the
law. 

The becak drivers intend to fight for their right to operate in the capital.


"We have received information that becak drivers and street vendors from
Greater Jakarta will hold a rally at the City Council on Wednesday," Paulus
R. Mahulette, the operational director of LBH's Jakarta chapter, was quoted
by Antara as saying. 

In a related development, about 200 native Jakartans grouped under the
Betawi Security Movement (Gerak Betawi), staged a rally at the Central
Jakarta mayoralty building as a display of support for the ban on becak in
the city. 

Lulung, the leader of the group, told The Jakarta Post that the operation of
becak was against city regulations, "that's why we oppose their operation." 

The authorities phased out the pedicabs in 1988 due to worsening traffic
jams in the city, claiming they were inhumane to the drivers. But, economic
conditions have caused an influx of people from outside the city seeking
work as becak drivers. (04)