W

hile working late night on Tuesday, an illegal parking attendant at the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta was allegedly burned by a TNI officer.

According to Gambir police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Putu Putra Pradana, the suspect who came to Monas at 11:45 p.m. sprayed a bottle of gasoline on the victim, identified as Yusri, before burning him with a lighter after the latter allegedly failed to pay him Rp 50,000 (US$4).

Before the assault, the suspect and the victim were involved in a verbal altercation. After arguing for several minutes, Putu said the suspect got angry and dowsed Yusri with fuel from a bottle he was holding, lit him on fire and then fled the scene.

'€œBased on eyewitness accounts, the person that burned Yusri was a TNI [Indonesian Military] officer, but we cannot confirm that yet. We are still investigating the matter. We have not yet named any suspects,'€ Putu told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, adding that the police had questioned three witnesses who were present during the incident.

Putu said that the 40-year-old Yusri was currently undergoing intensive medical treatment at Tarakan General Hospital in Central Jakarta for severe burns, adding that he was at present unfit for questioning.

Putu said that the police were also investigating motives behind the alleged extortion attempt.

'€œWe do not know what the money was for, so we'€™re not sure if it was extortion or something else,'€ Putu said.

Separately, a witness who wished to remain anonymous told reporters that the suspect was indeed a TNI officer who regularly went to Monas park to extort money from illegal parking attendants.

'€œ[The TNI officer] doesn'€™t come to the park everyday, only when there is an event being held or on weekends when there are many visitors,'€ he said.

This month, thousands of people have attended events at Monas park, where the Monas Folk Fair, which was organized to celebrate the city'€™s 487th anniversary, was held.

'€œAll of the illegal parking attendants know [the TNI officer] very well because he comes here frequently,'€ the unnamed witness added.

Meanwhile, acting Jakarta governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said that the military police had vowed to help the city administration handle the situation at Monas.

'€œThey will deploy personnel to guard the park and apprehend any perpetrators, especially those from the military or the police,'€ he said.

He added that although he had not verified the facts, he had received many reports on the involvement of police and military officers in the illegal parking business at Monas.

Ahok said he had also proposed a method to scrap the illegal parking industry in and around the park.

'€œAs we cannot force the police to fine the owners of the vehicles, we plan to tow the vehicles to nearby parking lots. When the owners want to collect their vehicles, the city will charge them Rp 500,000,'€ he said.

He added that he would now approach the parking management technical unit at the Transportation Agency to devise the mechanism for carrying out the proposal.

Separately, parking management technical unit head Sunardi Sinaga said he had been informed about the incident.

'€œ[Yusri] is an illegal parking attendant. He does not work for my unit. There are thugs involved in the incident,'€ he said.

Earlier this year, three military officers were allegedly involved in the extortion and murder of a man named Muhajir.

The three posed as police officers and detained Muhajir for gambling. They then contacted Muhajir'€™s father, Isnanto, and demanded Rp 5 million in return for his son.

Isnanto agreed and asked to meet them at a golf course in South Jakarta.

They met the next day, but Isnanto failed to bring the money. The three military officers allegedly became angry and drove away with Muhajir in their car.

Isnanto followed, and the three threw Muhajir out of the car. Muhajir suffered serious injuries and died shortly after the incident. (dwa)