Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Sutihat said she had never thought for a moment that Monday morning would be the last time she saw her 14-year-old son alive.
Fifth-grader Irfan Maulana was in fine form when they said goodbye. Sutihat said he had not been sick since he had come down with the measles when he was still in diapers.
""The news of his death -- and that his body was lying in the morgue without anyone knowing who he was -- really shook me up,"" she said Thursday in her small house in a densely populated area of Kota Bambu, Palmerah, South Jakarta.
She had not known her youngest son was a jockey -- someone who rides in a car so it can meet the quota of three people required to travel in fast lanes in peak hours.
""If I'd known, I would have stopped him,"" she said.
Irfan died on Dec. 8, after being caught during a Public Order Agency raid.
Rumors of a death in their community spread quickly among the jockeys in the Kotabambu area.
Elang, 25, a regular jockey, said he had heard someone talking about the body of a teenager turning up in the morgue and feared it might be Irfan.
""I visited his house that night but he wasn't home, so I told his father to look for him at the city-run rehabilitation center in Kedoya, because there had been a raid earlier in the day.""
However, Irfan was not there. His brother took the initiative to also check the hospital's morgue. Due to the condition of Irfan's body, his family decided to report the case to police.
Gustian, 17, said he was prepared to testify to seeing the officers beat Irfan up.
Elang said police's claim Irfan had been sick did not make sense.
""We all saw him that day. He was healthy. He'd even caught a ride with Mbak Tuti, splitting the money with her before his arrest,"" he said, referring to a fellow jockey.
Elang, who has been in and out of the city-run rehab center, said it was common for public order officers to use force.
""I mean, if they want to arrest us, they should just do it. Not beat us like animals,"" he said.
He said putting jockeys in rehab was a waste of time. ""As long as the three-in-one traffic policy exists, there will always be jockeys.
