TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Police arrest five suspects in Transjakarta attack
Change Size
Transjakarta passengers queue at the Dukuh Atas bus stop in Central Jakarta. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
I
n a relatively quick move against a hate crime, the police apprehended on Thursday five men for their alleged involvement in an attack against a Chinese-Indonesian youth they believed was committed because of his ethnicity.
The Jakarta Police mobile detective unit head Adj. Sr. Corm. Budi Hermanto said that all five, who were aged between 17 and 26 years, were arrested at 4 a.m. at their rented houses in Tambora, West Jakarta.
“We detained them when they were sleeping,” Budi told reporters.
The suspects have been accused of beating Andrew Budikusuma, 24, at the Transjakarta bus stop in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Friday after calling him “Ahok”, the nickname of Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the first Chinese-Indonesian governor of the city.
“You’re Ahok, aren’t you?”Andrew repeated, recalling the incident.
Police allege that when the bus reached the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) bus stop in Senayan, Andrew was attacked and his attackers tried to drag him off the bus.
Andrew, who worked at a start-up company, hit one of his assailants with a glass bottle that was within reach, which apparently deterred the others.
After the attack, Andrew went to the emergency department at Siloam Hospital in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, to get an injured lip and a bump on his head treated.
One day after the assault, Andrew posted information about the incident on his Facebook account and got numerous responses.
Ignoring his parents’ admonition that he should simply accept his position as a member of a minority community, Andrew reported the attack to the police on Tuesday.
Officer Budi has accused the suspects of violating Article 170 of the Criminal Code on assault and said if they are convicted of the charges they would face a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Police said they seized evidence including a phone, clothes and two pieces of ID from the suspects.
Commenting on the case, Transjakarta operational director, Daud Joseph, said that he underlined that violence should not occur in the Transjakarta workplace and as a mode of public transportation in the capital that included its pedestrian bridges, bus stops, corridor lane and bus interiors.
“It was not a trivial case,” he said.
To prevent a similar case in the future, he said that Transjakarta would ensure that all infrastructure was functioning properly.
“We will check regularly all CCTV cameras that had been installed both in the bus stops and inside the buses to make sure all of them were functioning well,” he said. He said that until now all Transjakarta
infrastructure has operated up to standard.
“We keep maintaining vigilance and security to make the passengers comfortable,” he said.
Andrew’s decision to report the case to the police got much support, including from other Chinese-Indonesians who claimed they now feel emboldened should they suffer similar assaults.
The chairman of the Setara Institute, a human rights NGO, Hendardi, praised Andrew’s braveness in reporting the case to the police, saying the victim could become a pioneer for other Chinese-Indonesians to get equal rights.
Before the downfall of the authoritarian regime of Soeharto in 1998, people of Chinese origin were denied their rights, including their right to cultural expression. The reform movement toppled the regime and brought many changes, including a recognition of the rights of minorities.(sha)
