N

ot much is known of the track record of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) ethnic gangs in the bustling protection racket in Jakarta compared to gangs from Maluku.

But several notorious incidents involving NTT gangs have gradually cemented their reputation as audacious newcomers to the capital’s underworld that cannot be overlooked.

The gang first hit headlines in a high-profile murder case in February 2009 that dragged down the former chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, Antasari Azhar.

Antasari is now serving an 18-year prison sentence for murdering businessman Nasrudin Zulkarnaen over a love affair.

Nasrudin was shot dead in a drive-by killing engineered by five NTT natives: Hendrikus Kia Walen, Eduardus “Edo” Ndopo Mbete, Heri Santoso, Fransiscus Tadon Kerans and Daniel Daen.

The five men who used to work as security personnel for a private company, are now serving prison sentences of between 17 and 18 years.

But NTT gangs continue to make their presence felt.

The gang’s clash with a rival Kei Island gang from Ambon, Maluku, on Sept. 29 on Jl. Ampera in South Jakarta highlighted their notoriety.

The clash, with the gun slinging NTT gang in public view, resulted in the deaths of three Ambonese thugs and dozens of injuries.

The clash was triggered by an earlier incident in April over security concessions at the upscale Blowfish nightclub in South Jakarta between Ambon and Flores gangs. One person was killed and two others severely injured in that altercation.

In the Ampera incident, the NTT gang was filmed by television crews using firearms, with two of the victims killed by gunshot, while police confiscated 20 bullet casings and five bullets at the scene.

However, despite naming six suspects in the deadly brawl, the police claim to have no evidence the suspects used firearms.

“The police did not find any evidence that the six suspects used firearms during the incident,” Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said on Oct. 11.

With the police are seemingly helpless in dealing with NTT thugs, many are now studying the gang’s rise to power and impunity before the police.

There are at least 10,000 NTT natives working in informal security and debt-collection businesses in Jakarta, says Petrus Celestinus, an NTT-born lawyer who is familiar with in eastern Indonesian gangs in the capital.

The NTT thugs are also deployed to land disputes and provide security services for underground nightclubs.

“Unlike their heyday in the 1980s, these gangsters [from eastern Indonesia] lack a leading figure to unite them,” Petrus said.

“That’s why, lately, there have been ethnic clashes triggered by competition over security concessions.”

He added that these people joined underworld gangs for economic
reasons.

The NTT gangs themselves are split into several groups originating from cities within the province, including those from Flores, Kupang and former East Timor residents before the area gained independence in 1999. NTT shares a border with Timor Leste.

A West Jakarta thug speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons said that NTT gangs flew most of their members out of Jakarta following the Ampera incident. He added that the bond within ethnic gangs from eastern Indonesia was strong, including between Maluku and NTT gangs.

He said, however, that since smaller splinter gangs from NTT and Maluku were now flourishing, it had become difficult for gang leaders to control members, let alone unite them.

Smaller NTT gangs are believed to be under the patronage of influential politicians while others are funded by a tycoon with close ties to the police and military.

Chris Siner Key Timu, a noted Flores-born activist, denied public stereotypes identifying men from his hometown as underworld gangsters.

Chris, who came to public attention in the late 1980s after signing a famous petition protesting then President Soeharto’s use of the state philosophy Pancasila against political rivals, said it was unfair to generalize people from NTT or other eastern part of Indonesia as “bad people”.

He said the stereotype only applied to a small number of people who actually committed street crime and thuggery.

“There are actually many gangs in Jakarta from various ethnic backgrounds. Blaming us as the sole troublemaker is unacceptable,” he said.