The naming of streets is a difficult matter

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 06/02/2009 11:14 AM | Features

Streets are given names and buildings are assigned numbers so they can be easily located, but what might appear a simple task has long been a major problem in Jakarta.
The lack of a coherent system for naming streets, first noted by academic Boejoeng Saleh in 1953, reflects the unplanned nature of Jakarta’s urban development.
It was not until September 1974, two decades after he raised the issue, that a gubernatorial decree on numbering streets, gardens and public buildings was issued. In 1976 another gubernatorial decree on the matter was issued.
Saleh noted that the only kind of system to be found is the naming and numbering of smaller streets after the main street they connect to. For example, the side streets coming off Kramat are named Kramat 1 to 8.
In Tanjung Priok, one even finds Lorong (path or alley) 1 to Lorong 104. An exception to this is the area near the Halim Perdana Kusuma military airport, where the streets are named after different types of aircraft: Bomber, Dakota, Ilyusin, Mustang and Hercules.
The same name sometimes appears in different places; for instance, there are several occurrences of Jalan Anggrek, Dahlia, Asem and Madrasah.
After Independence, all Dutch names were replaced. Those loaded with political meanings were changed to reflect Indonesian national history. Thus the Orangeboulevard became Jalan Diponegoro, Van Heutszboulevard became Jalan Teuku Umar, and so on.
Numbering houses is yet another matter. In August 1957, the Jakarta government issued a bylaw that stipulated that buildings must be numbered, and that house owners or building occupants were required to put a nameplate on the building.
A gubernatorial degree in 1976 that replaced the 1957 regulation only stipulated an obligation to assign number plates of a similar shape, color and size for every building in the city, but overruled the obligation for building owners or occupants to put their name on the building. The stated reason for this was “to prevent negative impact or things that will harm the owners or occupants”.
The most recent regulation on house numbering – a bylaw issued in 1986 – states that a house’s number plate must be blue, with the number in white. The regulation size for a one-digit street number is 7 x 11 centimeters, for a two-digit number is 7 x 16 centimeters and 7 x 22 centimeters for a three-digit number.
The regulation also says that failure to assign a proper number to a house is a criminal offense, but there is no record of anybody in Jakarta ever being jailed or fined over the matter.
– JP/Matheos V. Messakh

Where the streets have no name

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 06/02/2009 11:04 AM | Features

JP/P.J. Leo
“Take a right, then look for the small green mosque – there is a big mango tree to the left of the mosque; take the next right after that and count six houses on the left.”
Anyone who has ever had to find an address in Jakarta will be familiar with directions like these, especially when they find themselves lost on strange streets, needing to send out an emergency call to a friend or their destination, or stopping to ask people on the street for help.
Think how awkward it would be if that all-important mango tree had been cut down.
You don’t have to live in Jakarta for long to learn how slow and painful it can be to locate a building just from the street address given. Even people who have lived in Jakarta for years can be frustrated by the confusion that arises from the apparently simple task of finding a particular street address.
But perhaps because each time we are faced with this annoyance we deal with it and move on, we get used to it as part of life in the city and never really complain about it, or give it much thought past the initial frustration.
Even the city authorities have apparently never seriously considered the value of naming streets and numbering houses.
But in practice it is not quite as simple as it might seem – naming city streets and numbering buildings has been a tricky business since the early years of the nation’s independence.
Even though a number of regulations have been issued over the years in a bid to impose order on the city’s streets, these ordinances have rarely been implemented.
“It’s hard to apply these regulations,” says Maulizar, the head of research and development at the city’s legal affairs division. “Almost everybody is an offender, including even me, perhaps. Many people have made their own number plate for their house or even decided their own house number.”
The radical step of renaming streets and assigning new numbers to houses, Maulizar points out, would be met with a loud public outcry, as it would require people to change many of their business and legal documents.
Further confusing the issue is the series of structural changes in local government bodies and agencies, especially the most recent changes that took place at the end of last year and which have led to confusion over just which agencies or bodies are responsible for the issue.
The relevant regulations mention that, under the new structure, an ad hoc body is to be established that will be responsible for the matter, but although committees had been appointed in the past, the ad hoc committee has not yet been reappointed, says Maulizar, adding that no other institution can be really held responsible.
“If necessary, the government should change the regulations on naming streets and numbering houses,” he adds. And what is needed is a decent database.
“If we had a complete database on the names of streets and their classifications, it would become a reference for further development,” Maulizar says. “We possibly do have some documents on the names of streets but they are scattered among different city agencies.”
The most recent regulation on numbering houses was issued in 1986, and the most recent regulation on naming streets was issued in 1999.
The 1986 bylaw stipulates that numbers must be allotted to each plot on the side of the road, with odd numbers on the left side of the road and even numbers on the right. Numbering is to begin from the end of the street closest to the National Monument.
The 1999 gubernatorial decree, which more or less repeated the content of the regulations for a similar decree issued in 1976, stipulates that the naming and renaming of streets is the job of the local provincial or city government. Members of the public can also propose streets be named or renamed.
The decree also states that the local government is responsible for the repair and maintenance of street signs when necessary because of accidental damage, vandalism or normal wear and tear.
However, the practice of naming streets in Jakarta and especially numbering buildings has never really taken these ordinances into account, despite a 1986 bylaw stating that failure to number a house is a criminal offense punishable by three months in jail or a fine of Rp 750,000.
Quite simply, in some places in Jakarta, street names do not exist. Some streets may officially have a name, but it is unknown because there is no sign at the intersection, or because the sign has been overrun by advertising.
Even where there are signs, some serve as little more than decoration, as nobody is able to use the street name for delivering mail, serving notices or simply giving directions.
In the tangled web of Jakarta streets, there are several streets with the same name, or several names for the same street. Houses in the same street may be numbered quite randomly, if only because residents choose their own house number without consulting any authority; in this case, the doubling up of numbers in the same street is unavoidable.
Not surprisingly, this causes headaches for people whose life revolves around finding streets.
“Imagine if you have passed a number in a one-way street and you have to turn back,” says Supriyadi, a post office courier in Central Jakarta.
Iwan Kurniawan, the head of the city planning, development and restoration division, confesses there is no system for naming streets and numbering houses.
“Perhaps because the effect of the street names and house numbers is invisible, it has never become a priority,” said Kurniawan, who nevertheless admits to having had trouble with duplicated house numbers.
It causes a dilemma: Reorganizing street names and building numbers in Jakarta would probably result in nothing less than a riot, but on a day-to-day level, it is a serious source of annoyance.
At the heart of the mess and stress of what should be a simple matter – finding a street address – lie a chaotic spatial development framework and ignorance of local authorities.
And it is, it appears, just part of life in Jakarta. The confusion with Jakarta addresses is the result of the city’s history, says urban sociologist Jo Santoso. It is impossible, he says, to have a single and coherent procedure for naming and numbering streets in such an old city.
“Jakarta has multiple systems for naming and numbering the streets,” he says. “The best thing to do is have a map or rely on postcodes.”

Bringing down the house

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 05/12/2009 2:02 PM | Environment

Bought and sold: Building materials businesses, such as this one under Slipi flyover, are inadvertently helping the environment. JP/Ricky Yudhistira

It might seem much easier to destroy than to build, but when it comes to a house, that's not always the case, especially for house owners in Jakarta.

After all, it's easy enough to find someone to help when you want to build a house, but unless you are very rich, you will find it much too expensive to pay a big company just to knock your house down.

Abdul Jalal, 40, has been working in the business of house demolitions for half his life. When he came to the capital from Jepara 20 years ago, his brother had already started the business from a hut in Slipi, Central Jakarta.

After his brother's death three years ago, Abdul took over the business, running it from a plot of rented land in Palmerah, South Jakarta.

Abdul is one of the thousands of people from Jepara in Central Java who are flocking to Jakarta, offering their services for anybody wanting to tear down their house.

Most of these workers have never even owned a house in Jakarta - they are only renting a plot of land or setting up on the pavement - but their presence in the city has turned out to be a boon for many.

Not only do these workers offer their services for demolishing buildings, they also buy buildings if they think the materials could have a good resale value.

"We mostly take the scrap metal, ceramics, wooden elements such as doors or window frames and roof frame elements," said Abdul, who said he bought old buildings at prices ranging from Rp 3 million to Rp 40 million.

"Sometimes we chip in to pay for a building if we have estimated the value of the building's materials."

As destroying a house has been a lifetime job for many people from the Jepara community, never doubt their ability to estimate the value of the materials of a house they want to buy.

"Give us about one to three hours and we will come up with a price," said Haryanto, a house demolisher in Slipi, Central Jakarta.

Although the industry did not begin out of any intention to recycle materials in the sense of modern "green" concepts, the way they process the materials from demolished houses does indeed match the concept of recycling.

Abdul Jalal and Haryanto said that what they took accounted for up to 75 percent of the building materials.

"We'll even take a 50-centimeter piece of wood because it would be useful for a window's furrow, for example," said Abdul.

Some scrap material is sold as is, while other parts need to be modified to fetch a better price in the market.

Roof tiles and ceramics are usually sold to customers as they are, or offered to regular customers at prices that vary according to quality, maker or even color.

"Red ceramics made by a brand such as Toto or Kia usually sell for around Rp 250,000 to Rp 300,000 higher than other brands or the same brand with a different color," said Abdul.

Wooden parts usually require some modification or even a total overhaul.

A secondhand door leaf sells for about Rp 100,000, and a new door leaf sells for between Rp 850,000 and Rp 900,000. A modified secondhand door is priced at around Rp 300,000 to Rp 400,000.

"Those who want a good quality window leaf but can't afford to buy a new one usually go for a modified one," said Abdul. "From our experience, the quality of used wood is usually better, perhaps because it has a lower moisture level so it isn't as affected by the weather."

As with wooden materials, metal also tends to be redesigned to fetch a better price. Material such as cast iron will usually be reworked into iron fences or window bars, while aluminum roofs are usually sold to construction projects as temporary fences.

Materials from walls are mostly used to build up the ground, while ceiling elements such as asbestos cement board, gypsum or plywood ceiling are always thrown away.

However, owners must pay more if they want the debris to be discarded.

"We usually settle the price before the demolition and if they want to throw away the debris we will charge them more, because we will have to pay trucks to take it to the garbage dump," said the worker, who recently bought a 300-meter-square house in Tomang, West Jakarta, for Rp 15 million.

According to architect Eko Prawoto, houses built from recycled materials will not only be cheaper than those built new, but will always have a more distinctive design.

"If we need four window-frames but we only have three, then we deal with how to make them look good even though they are an odd number," said Eko, who has developed a reputation for designing houses made from used materials, including for artists Djadug Ferianto and Butet Kertaradjasa, in Bantul, Yogyakarta.

Eko, who graduated in architecture from the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam in 1993, said he generally used secondhand floor or wall tiles, window and door frames and leafs, as well as pillars.

"Mainly it is easy to reuse materials for wood constructions, but metal constructions are harder."

Eko's experience has been the same as that of the house demolishers, finding that used wood tends to be better quality than new wood.

"In the old days people only cut wood with a diameter of more than 40 centimeters, meaning the wood used was of good quality. This kind of wood is weather-resistant," he said.

The 51-year-old lecturer at the Yogyakarta's Duta Wacana Christian University said houses made from recycled materials tended to be connected with the environmental movement because they used recycled materials, but that the initial concern was generally related to economics and/or a love of antique materials. One client, he said, "collected his materials for six years".

Yet even though the business of collecting and building with used materials was never intended as a "green" campaign, sprouting rather from people's need to make a living from what they knew, it could provide an opportunity for the government or environmental activists to raise awareness about the benefits of using recycled materials.

As Abdul Jalal said, "We really started for profit-based reasons, but we will be very happy if someone wants to train us in how to help protect the environment

A time to break down, a time to build up

Tue, 05/12/2009 2:02 PM | Environment

Spare parts: Metal and timber are among the building materials recycled from old houses to build new ones. JP/Ricky Yudhistira

Just as the Madurese people are famous for collecting scrap metal, the Jepara people are well known for collecting housing materials.

There are probably thousands of people from Jepara now residing in Jakarta who are engaged in the business of recycling building materials, most of which they source from demolished houses.

Nobody knows for sure how long these Jepara communities have been eking out a living in this way, but Haryanto, a house demolisher in Slipi, said his father, who started the business, came to Jakarta as a construction worker when the Istiqal Mosque was built in 1961 and the Senayan Sporting Complex in 1962.

As trust itself is hard to build and easy to destroy, the house demolishers tend to prefer to work with their own kind, whether as workers or as partners to chip in to buy a wrecked building.

"This is a family business. Most people who join us here are related to each other. We prefer to work with our own people because the calculation for the materials we intend to buy is based on our own experience and the profit doesn't come overnight," said Haryanto.

The 39-year-old Jepara native said that the members of the community are scattered around Jakarta, but when someone needs workers to demolish a house or more money to buy a building, they will contact each other.

"We can easily call each other," said the father of two, who rents a house in Bintaro, South Jakarta, and travels to Jepara at least once a month to visit his children. "There are many groups and each group consists of hundreds of people."

Haryanto, who has seven employees, said in the case of a big house, he can always seek help from other Jepara communities in Jakarta, or even ask for some more people from Jepara.

In his experience, a house can be priced from as low as Rp 2 million through to Rp 50 million. Workers are paid between Rp 80,000 and Rp 100,000 a day. It can take six workers to destroy a 300-square-meter house in 10 days, he said.

Jepara people are also known for their wood-carving skills.

And perhaps they might all enjoy the Chinese proverb that says, "fools build houses and wise men buy them."

- JP/Matheos V. Messakh

Developing failure?

Sat, 02/07/2009 1:06 PM | Lifestyle

With apartments sprouting up across the city, Jakarta could soon be more crowded than ever.

Urban planner from Trisakti University, Yayat Supriatna, said the likelihood of problems represents a failure on the part of the government to provide better housing for people.
Living in the suburbs, he said, became very costly for many who work in the city, making people go back to the city.
For for those who are less fortunate, the only way to get around is to rely on public transportation, no matter the problems.
"In the 1970s and 1980s the Jakarta's middle class flocked to the suburbs like Pondok Indah, Bekasi and Depok, but now it's becoming so difficult to live in the suburbs. It creates many problems, especially with access to workplaces. So beginingg in the late 1990s there has been a trend of people moving back to the city," Yayat Supriatna said.
"People just don't need a neighborhood anymore, as long as they can pay for what they think is efficient in terms of distance, time, cost and choice fits what they need."
Developers saw the opportunity and have favored the 'superblock' approach. A superblock is a vertical complex complete with supporting facilities, including shops and offices.
Due to land speculation, which was not anticipated by the government, up to 60,000 hectare of land reserved for housing around the greater Jakarta has been bought by developers. This shows that the government has not done its job to provide affordable housing, Yayat said.
To build a house in Jakarta is nearly as expensive as to buy an apartment.
"How can we be able to buy a house at an affordable price if all the land is owned by developers, building materials cost are high and the tax burden falls on the buyer?"
All these problems, he said, have made housing not just a mere social matter but a capital or investment matter.
"Only if the government acts quite extremely and buys back land to provide houses for people we will be able to find affordable housing prices."
He said that, the government's low cost apartment projects (Rusunami), are build on state-owned land, meaning that the government has no ability to provide land for housing except from what they already own.
The choice to build many high rise and luxury apartments also makes many people worry that it is a heavy burden will be put on the environment and create social problems.
"The biggest question is where does the water supply come from? I doubt they will only rely on the water company PDAM. If they use ground water, how much will they use?"
Beside environmental damage, there are concerns about emergency preparedness incase of a disaster and social control among the occupants of apartments.
Supriatna said that the development of apartments and condominiums by big business has gotten out of control.
"What we really need is to provide the informal sector with a subsidy so that they can provide themselves with affordable housing.
"The government is not the developer. They are supposed to only provide an attractive climate for the property business. If they lose control over the property business, only a certain class of people can afford proper housing."--JP/Matheos V. Messakh

Changing skyline Time to get back to the city?

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 02/07/2009 1:06 PM | Lifestyle

In between: A man reads ads for apartments during a property expo in Jakarta. (JP/ Ricky Yudhistira)

Jakarta's skyline is changing. Many billboards advertise great apartments - smartly themed they sell ideas of romantic rhythms to tropical paradises. In five years time, will the skyline be full of glittering towers?

Probably. But many simply do not care about the affect this will have on the city's worsening traffic and environment.
Novita Imelda finds living in apartment suits her needs.
She actually bought a house in a township in Tangerang back in 1999 but when she got married six years later, they bought an apartment in Central Jakarta as it was closer to their places of work.
She said that before buying the apartment she and her husband used to spend two to three hours a day traveling back and forth between their working places in Sudirman in Central Jakarta and Slipi in West Jakarta.
"Now it only takes 15 minutes for me and five minutes for my husband to get to work," said the mother of one, brimming with joy.
The young family found living in apartment more practical, efficient and safe, although it costs them more than buying a house. They first bought a studio and when the baby came, they bought a three-bedroom apartment.
"Of course it's more expensive. with the same price, we could buy a good house," Novita said. "But an apartment is more practical and easier to maintain."
Home sweet home: Two women checkout the interior design of an upscale apartment in Sudirman area, Central Jakarta (JP/ P.J. Leo)
In the past, many people shied away from staying in high-rise buildings, preferring to live in houses.
But with bad traffic and the cost of building or buying a house continuing to escalate, people have started to change their minds and reconsider their options.
In the last few years, more and more people, mostly professionals and executives, cannot resist the temptation of living closer to their workplaces - enabling them to escape being trapped for hours in traffic, spend quality time with their loved ones or simply enjoy more "me time".
"People are willing to pay more as long as they get what they want, especially for those with a good career.," Evi Susanti, Associate Director of PT Procon Indah, a Jakarta-based property consultancy, said
Over the past three years, more apartments are being built for the middle- and lower-income segments with the price tags are between Rp 200 and Rp 400 million.
For those who prefer to rent, the prices range from Rp 2 million up to Rp 5 million per month.
The hassle of endless traffic jams has seen the construction of many apartment buildings close to prime business districts.
"They never build far away from Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Rasuna Said, Jl. Thamrin or Jl. Gatot Subroto. These are where the concentration of the projects have been within the last five years."
Data from Procon shows that from 2004 to mid 2007, the number of apartments has grown by 60.4 percent, as demand grew by 67.8 percent.
Procon's market review showed that in the fourth quarter of 2008, the cumulative supply for condominiums in Jakarta reached 65, 260 units, with an annual availability of 8,400.
Although analysts anticipate that, due to the current global financial crisis, the property business will be sluggish within the next two years, but insist that property is a safe investment, as there is stable demand from the upper-middle class for property in strategic locations.
Beside the distance to workplaces, Procon's latest research shows that the size and number of bedrooms, facilities offered, the architecture style and payment scheme on an apartment are also top considerations.
Almost 50 percent of residents own their apartment at use it as their first house, up to 20 percent use their apartment as their second house or a house for their extended family members and more than 30 percent rented them.
Despite the crisis, developers are still frantically trying to come up with seductive marketing strategies including offering flexibility of payment terms.
"Attractive payment schemes are one of the reasons why many executives and professionals are willing to buy an apartment rather than renting a room or a house.," Evi said.
Before interest rates increased in October last year, most buyers used bank loans to buy but the crisis has made many developers change their strategy, offering blunt payments to accommodate the demand of market.
"After October 2008, we advised our clients to reshape their payment schemes. Smart developers are usually responsive to market need or nobody will buy."
The relatively steady prospects for property investments attract the buyers who just want to use their apartment as a rental property.
"Buying a house outside the city will take a long time to sell back for profit. It might be sold at a loss if you're in hurry, but buying an apartment and selling it back in four or five years, you might gain more than 50 percent in profit."
With such a picture in mind, returning back to the city might seem like a good choice.

Jakarta monorail on again with govt guarantee

Saturday, March 17, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After almost six months of delay, the longest such delay since Jakarta's on-again, off-again monorail project began in 2004, construction is scheduled to restart in April, this time with apparently strong financial backing.

Governor Sutiyoso said Friday that Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati had issued a letter of guarantee that will enable the rapid disbursement of a foreign loan for the project.

The minister only agreed to issue the letter after the city administration guaranteed it would make up half of any financial shortfalls in the operation of the monorail.

Jakarta plans to build two monorail routes, a green line and the blue line, at an estimated total cost of US$650 million. The monorail is envisioned as part of a future integrated mass rapid transportation system.

Officials initially said the green line was due to be completed by the end of 2007, but this has been delayed by funding problems.

"The project will start again next month but it will be difficult to complete the green line by the end of this year due to the long delay," Sutiyoso told reporters at City Hall.

The 14.3-kilometer green line will run through Central Jakarta and South Jakarta, from Jl. Rasuna Said to Jl. Gatot Subroto and the Sudirman Business District, on to Senayan, Jl. Pejompongan and back to Jl. Rasuna Said.

Sukmawati Syukur, the director of developer PT Jakarta Monorail (JM), told The Jakarta Post on Friday she had heard the letter of guarantee had been issued by the ministry.

"I believe the ministry took its time in issuing the letter to ensure it complied with a new regulation on railways, which requires any investor to work together with state railway company PT KA, as the sole train operator in the country."

JM had previously named Hong Kong train operator Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) as its partner, Sukmawati said, but after the new regulation was issued it teamed up with PT KA as well.

"It's a win-win solution ... the partnership will start when the monorail is up and running in 2009," she said.

Dubai Islamic Bank has agreed to invest US$500 million in the project, as long as the central government and the city administration guarantee to cover the losses if the number of monorail passengers falls below 160,000 a day.

The City Council in December approved the administration's plan to make up half of any financial shortfalls in the operation of the monorail.

The central government agreed to cover the other half of any shortfalls, as stated in a presidential decree providing a financial guarantee for the project. This guarantee will last for the first five years of the monorail's operation. (02)

Three-in-one policy soon to be history

Thursday, March 15, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Governor Sutiyoso on Monday said Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) would replace the three-in-one policy, which has been deemed an ineffective means of controlling the traffic.

"So far, with the three-in-one policy, we have raised more problems than money. What's more, motorists flaunt the law," he told reporters at City Hall.

The policy requires motorists passing major streets during peak hours to have two passengers. However, they can always find a shortcut and hire "jockeys" or people they pick up on the roadside for a small fee.

"If the three-in-one policy is ineffective, why shouldn't we replace it with something else?" Sutiyoso said.

He said the government was in the process of studying the ERP system.

"If it were up to me, I'd bring it in immediately," said the governor, implying he would take heed of public opinion and the results of the research.

Sutiyoso said the revenue generated from the ERP would be used to subsidize public transportation so the fares would be lower.

The governor has been defending the three-in-one policy, which was brought in 1992, since he took up his post in 1997.

City transportation agency head Nurahman said the agency was working on the engineering design for the ERP.

"We are also studying the technical aspects to identify the most suitable system for Jakarta. But we are likely to go with the Singaporean system, which uses a pre-paid smart card, because it is much cheaper to operate compared to the systems in London or Hong Kong, and fits with conditions here.

"The study will be finished in a year, so hopefully by the end of the year we'll be able to start building the ERP infrastructure and the trial of the system will start in 2008," Nurahman said.

He said the trial charge zone would be the roads between Blok M, South Jakarta, and Kota, North Jakarta, on which the busway operates.

The ERP system, which is used in a number of countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, England, Germany, Austria and Belgium, requires car owners to purchase an electronic ticket to drive on main thoroughfares in the city during peak hours.

The transportation agency will work together with the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and other related stakeholders to develop the system.

Data from ITDP shows that the number of vehicles in Jakarta grows by 11 percent per year. There are more than five million private cars in the city.(02)

Two women found murdered in separate incidents

Monday, March 12, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the week when women commemorated World Women's Day on March 8, two were found murdered in Jakarta.

A vegetable seller, Lestari, 41, was found dead in her mother's house in Gandaria, South Jakarta, at around 9 a.m. Saturday.

Her brother, Joko, found her in their mother's bedroom with a stab wound to her abdomen and a blood-stained knife a few meters from her body.

Less than three hours later, Lestari's ex-husband, Pramono, 35, turned himself in at a police station in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, confessing to the murder of his former wife.

He was then handed on to Kebayoran Baru Police, who were handling the case.

The couple divorced after 10 years of marriage because Pramono accused her of having an affair. Lestari and their two children moved to her 60-year-old mother's house, which was only a few meters away from the couple's contracted house.

The head of South Jakarta Police's general crime unit, Comr. Helmy Santika, said that from witnesses' testimonies police could conclude that the motive of the murder was jealousy.

Lestari's body had been sent to Fatmawati General Hospital for autopsy and would be brought to her home village in Klaten, Central Java, for burial.

Meanwhile, another woman was found dead with several stab wounds to her body in the house of Husein Abdul Azis, a House of Representatives member, on Wednesday.

Nurjanah, 33, who had been working as a maid for the family for some 20 years, was found dead in the Sunrise Garden housing complex home on Jl. Surya Mandala, Kedoya Utara, West Jakarta.

Reza, the son of the Democratic Party member, returned home at around 6 p.m. and found the house's gate locked from the outside. He asked the housing complex's security guards to help him open the gate and found Nurjanah's body on the floor inside the house.

An autopsy revealed dozens of stab wounds to her neck and body.

"The number of wounds indicates that the murderer was very angry," the head of West Jakarta Police's criminal unit, Comr. Andry Wibowo, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Police also found that some items in the room, such as the TV set and radio, had been removed. Besides a cell phone, no other valuables in the house were missing.

"The victim had Rp 1.3 million in her cupboard drawer, but the money was still there," said Andry.

Police were yet to determine whether Nurjanah was murdered in cold blood, or while foiling a robbery.

"Some facts lead us to conclude that this was purely murder, but we still have to conduct further investigations," he said, adding that the killer took the murder weapon from the kitchen, while robbers usually used their own weapons.

Police said the killer was most likely familiar to the victim, because she allowed the perpetrator to enter the house. Another fact, he added, was that the killer knew where she kept the key of the gate.

Police also discovered a piece of paper in her room inscribed with the words: "I want to be your wife, but don't hurt me. Give me happiness".

Eight people were now being questioned by police, but none have been named as suspects. (02)

Boy nabbed for bomb hoax case

Saturday, March 10, 2007
A 10-year-old boy has been arrested for sending bomb threats from his mother's cellular phone, police said Friday.

"Though he is only a child, what he did is an act of terror and we must discipline him in accordance with the law in order to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future," Sr. Comr. Carlo Brix Tewu, the chief of general crimes at the Jakarta Police, told reporters.

Police have also arrested three men on similar charges.

They said 16 bomb threats had been received this year, including from a man claiming to be a member of international terror network al-Qaeda.

The threats include the one against the Bank Indonesia building on Feb. 19, Kelapa Gading Shopping mall in North Jakarta on Feb.26, the National Monument in Central Jakarta and the U.S. Embassy on March 1.

On March 5, a bomb threat was directed at the British Embassy.

All of the threats, communicated via the police's Traffic Management Center (TMC) hot line, turned out to be hoaxes.

A farmer in Ponorogo, East Java, was arrested last week in relation to the threat against the Bank Indonesia building, while the boy was arrested for the National Monument bomb hoax. On Sunday, a university student from Brebes, Central Java, was arrested in connection with the threat against Kelapa Gading shopping mall.

On Friday, police arrested a vendor in his house in Cikarang, West Java, for sending the bomb threat against the British Embassy.

"We are investigating whether these suspects are related to each other or have a link to an international terrorist group," Carlo said.

He said the suspects could be charged under either the Criminal Code or the Antiterror Law. (02)

Family fights back after fatal shooting

Saturday, March 03, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The family of a man who died after a police officer shot him during a drug raid Tuesday have reported the incident to the city police.

Arben Panjaitan, 41, was shot on Feb. 14, when officers raided his house in Kebon Bawang, Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

He died a few hours later in the Kramatjati police hospital, the family's lawyer, Kamaruddin Simanjuntak, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Police had earlier arrested Aki, who rented a room in Arben's house, for his alleged role in drug trafficking. On Feb. 14, two plainclothes officers let themselves in to the house at 7:35 p.m. to search for evidence.

Arben had just arrived home from work and was using the second-story bathroom when they arrived, Simanjuntak said.

When he had finished, he exited the bathroom only to come across two strangers in the house.

They said they were police, but Arben did not believe them. When he asked for their ID cards, the policemen ignored the request. Their failure to present a search warrant also made Arben uneasy and he asked them to leave.

"The policemen, however, became angry and one of them shot Arben in both thighs," Simanjuntak said.

Arben's father, Lantang Panjaitan, and brother, Binsar Panjaitan, rushed to his side, but police told them to stay away.

"They told us to shut up and not to get involved. They even shot twice at the floor and threatened to shoot us," Binsar said.

He said police kicked and punched Arben a number of times, even though he was bleeding and could not rise to his feet.

Binsar said they ransacked Arben's room, which was still locked, but found nothing. When police searched Aki's room, they found a packet of marijuana.

At 8:30 p.m more police officers came to the house.

They ordered Arben to get into a police car. His brother tried to help him, but was restrained by police. So Arben had to crawl from the second floor while the police shouted at him and kicked him.

The officers took Arben away at about 9 p.m.

At 12:30 p.m. the family were told by police that Arben had been taken to Sukanto police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta.

The next day, Binsar and Arben's other brother, Jonggir Panjaitan, met the head of the Tanjung Priok Police's drug squad, Adj. Sec. Insp. Asep Heriawan, to ask about the case. The officer said Arben was not the target of the raid.

"Heriawan told us they had been looking for Aki not Arben, but Arben was shot because he stood in the way of the police officers," Binsar told the Post.

The family was later told by the Kramat Jati hospital that Arben, who had arrived at the hospital at 12:15 p.m., died at 5:30 a.m.

They wanted to bring the body home straightaway but Heriawan prevented them.

Binsar said that in the evening, when two relatives of the victim, Karis and Julu Panjaitan, tried to bring the body home, police offered them Rp 2 million, telling them not to ask questions about the shooting. Karis and Julu rejected the offer.

They were able to bring the body home just after midnight.

Tanjung Priok Police chief Comr. Suparmo said separately that Arben had been caught red-handed with a joint in his hand and had resisted arrest.

Suparmo also said police never tried to bribe the family but gave them money for the funeral.

The family's lawyer said they would also report the case to the National Commission on Human Rights. (02)

U.S. Embassy receives 'al-Qaeda' threat

Friday, March 02, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city police's Traffic Management Center (TMC) has again received a bomb threat against the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta from a person claiming to be a member of international terrorist network al-Qaeda.

Police said they received the same text messages from number 085229992xxx at 11:22 a.m. and 11:40 a.m. Monday.

The message said: "We will blow up the U.S. Embassy in 30 minutes time. Al-Qaeda."

Police sent two anti-terror squads to search both inside and outside the building (see photo), but found nothing.

The embassy received a similar bomb threat Saturday sent from a different cell phone number to TMC hot line 1717.

Two other bomb threats have been reported in the news this year: The first was against the Bank Indonesia building on Feb. 19 and the second against Kelapa Gading Shopping mall in North Jakarta on Tuesday.

Jakarta Police arrested last week a man in Ponorogo, East Java, who had phoned TMC to warn a bomb was going to go off in the Bank Indonesia building.

According to police, the man made the threat to express his deep disappointment in the country's banking system.

"The TMC number is there to expedite police response times, but some people are misusing the number to make threats," said Central Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Heru Winarto on Thursday.(02)

Police continue investigation into Levina I fire

Wednesday, February 28, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Battling heavy rain and high seas, search and rescue teams on Tuesday recovered the bodies of three more victims of the Levina I ferry fire and subsequent sinking, bringing the official death toll from the disaster to 53.

Officials were able to identify two bodies found Tuesday morning from ID cards found in their pockets. They are Adj. Sr. Comr. Langgeng Widodo and Comr. Widiantoro of the National Police's forensic laboratory.

A third body recovered later in the day was identified as that of SCTV cameraman Muhammad Guntur.

The three died when the charred ferry sank Sunday off Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta with police investigators and journalists aboard.

Widodo's body was recovered at around 7:30 a.m., about 1.5 kilometers to the north-west of where the ferry went down. Widiantoro's body was recovered nearby. The bodies of the two were transported to the National Police hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, for autopsies.

The Levina I caught fire last Thursday on its way from Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta to Bangka Island, off Sumatra.

On Sunday, a team of police forensic investigators and officials from the National Transportation Safety Board, accompanied by 12 television journalists, boarded the gutted ferry off Tanjung Priok Port. The ferry sank while the group was aboard, leaving four people missing. In addition to the two police investigators and Muhammad Guntur, Lativi cameraman Suherman also died in the accident.

Searchers on Tuesday also recovered an explosives detector taken aboard the ferry by investigators, said Col. Didin Zainal Abidin of the Navy's Western Fleet.

Search operations, which involve 16 ships, two helicopters and 100 divers from the national search and rescue team, were suspended at around 3 p.m. due to bad weather.

He said search operations would resume Wednesday, focusing on the wreckage of the ferry.

Didin said the search for bodies might be called off sometime this week, but the final decision would be made by the national search and rescue team.

However, he said the Navy would continue patrolling the waters in the area around the wreckage.

Meanwhile, police have named three people as suspects in the Levina I fire. The ferry's captain, Andi Kurniawan, deck officer Maryono and ferry operator Aliong are accused of negligence resulting in death.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Adang Firman told reporters Tuesday that even though the ferry sank along with crucial evidence, police would continue their investigation into the fire. He said officers would question witnesses and examine relevant documents.

The ship carried more than 300 passengers, but many of the victims were not listed on the passenger manifest.

Immediately after the accident it was reported that 16 people were killed and 300 survived.

The Indonesian Red Cross, which received reports from families of missing passengers, was the first to say there were more missing passengers than originally believed.

Four bodies were recovered Saturday, while another 22 were found Sunday.

As part of the official response to the accident, the Tanjung Priok Port harbormaster, Johny Karel Lantang, has been placed on administrative leave.

Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa said Monday he would replace Director General for Sea Transportation Harijogi and Director General for Air Transportation M. Iksan Tatang.

The decision comes after a string of serious transportation accidents over recent months, including the Levina I fire.(02)

Investigators to carry on query despite sinking evidence

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National Transportation Safety Board (KNKT) investigators are still searching for the cause of the fire that broke out on the Levina I ferry last week, although the ship sunk Sunday.

"Even though evidence has sunk into the water with the ship, it will not stop our team of investigators looking for the cause of the accident," board head Setio Raharjo said Monday.

The charred remains of the Levina I sank while investigators and journalists were on board. A Lativi television station cameraman, 33-year-old Suherman, died in the incident, while as of Monday night SCTV reporter Muhammad Guntur and forensic officers Adj. Sr. Comr. Widodo and Comr. Widiantoro remained missing.

"We can obtain other sources of evidence, such as the boat's manifest and documents and statements from the crew members and passengers," Setio said.

Investigators' digital cameras were also rescued during the sinking of the boat.

The fire, which broke out as the boat was heading to Bangka Island, is believed to have been started by chemicals carried by trucks loaded on the ship.

Crew members told investigators that the fire from the tarpaulin-covered truck grew bigger when they tried to extinguish it with water.

The boat had more than 300 passengers on it.

A source from the ticketing agency close to the truck drivers from Bangka said Monday that one of the drivers had loaded a truck with cases of premix gasoline.

"The price of premix is very expensive in Bangka and it's very rare, while there are a lot of luxury cars there that need premix for fuel," the source told The Jakarta Post.

Commenting on the deaths caused by the ship's sinking, Setio said that the KNKT had never invited reporters to board the charred vessel. "They came of their own will, by themselves."

A survivor of the sinking, Elshinta radio reporter Mardiyanto, said the search and rescue team had told them not to board the wreckage, but when they arrived at the site where the wreckage was anchored and sailed around it, they saw a reporter already on board.

The group of journalists, most of whom were from TV stations, followed suit. Only a few wore life jackets.

On Monday, the search and rescue team found eight more bodies from the fire, bringing the death toll to 51.

One of the bodies, brought ashore by Navy ship KRI Kobra, was thought to be that of forensic laboratory officer Col. Widiantoro, but this was quickly ruled out due to the corpse's state of decomposition and the body was listed as a John Doe.

The other seven bodies brought ashore at around 7:35 p.m. were found six to 10 miles from where the Levina I caught fire.

The search team also found camera belonging to Lativi and RCTI, as well as a microphone belonging to Lativi.

The commander of the joint team for the Levina I search mission, Col. Didin Zainal Abidin, said that they would continue the search on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people attended the burial of Lativi cameramen Suherman at Budi Darma graveyard in Cilincing, North Jakarta, including his fiancee, Novianti.

His colleague Ricky Firmansyah remembered him as a diligent worker, who showed up early and left work late.

"He had asked me to be the cameramen for his wedding later this year," he said. (02)

Death toll rises as charred ferry sinks

Monday, February 26, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A television cameraman died and three other people remain missing after the charred ferryboat Levina I sank Sunday while investigators and journalists were on board.

The incident occurred around noon when investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, the National Police's forensic laboratory and the Water Police were going over the vessel, which caught fire Thursday.

Twelve TV reporters and cameramen from Indosiar, Metro TV, ANTV, Lativi, RCTI and SCTV were accompanying the investigators.

Lativi cameraman Suherman, 33, died when the ferry sank. As of Sunday night, SCTV's Muhammad Guntur and forensic officers Adj. Sr. Comr. Widodo and Comr. Widiantoro remain missing.

Officials originally planed to tow the vessel to Tanjung Priok Port before boarding it for the investigation. However, for reasons that remain unclear they decided to enter the wreckage before it was towed, some seven mile from port.

An Elshinta radio reporter, Mardianto, who was on the wreckage, said the accident happened so fast the people on board barely had time to save themselves.

The ship was already listing when journalists were allowed to board the ferry by investigators.

"Driven by curiosity, we entered the ship though some officers warned us that it was not safe," Mardianto told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The officers offered the journalists life jackets but few accepted.

"I am not in a position to blame anyone because I myself was guilty of not taking proper precautions," Mardianto said.

He said after boarding, the journalists went to deck three where they interviewed the head of the city's Water Police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Frederik Kalembang.

An officer from the forensic laboratory suddenly said it felt like the ship was listing.

Seconds later, police officers on a nearby boat used a loudspeaker to order everyone on board the ferry to evacuate.

"People on the ferry panicked and raced down to deck two where they crowded into a window at the end of the deck to get out to the side of the ship," Mardianto said

Mardianto was able to get out of the ferry and swim to the nearest lifeboat. He said the boat was meant for only six people and nearly capsized because it was overloaded.

Setyo Raharjo, the head of the transportation safety body, said all of his officers on the ferry were wearing life jackets as instructed. "They were told by the police to wear the jackets so all of my officers were wearing them," he told the Post.

A search and rescue official in Jakarta, Dadang Arkum, said it was unlikely the three missing people would be found alive. "We are hoping for the best, but in reality if people go under the water and do not come back up within five minutes, they are most likely dead."

Meanwhile, the search and rescue team said earlier Sunday that 22 bodies from the original ferry fire had been recovered by two naval vessels, the KRI Cobra and KAL Legian. The bodies were spotted near Kelapa island, bringing the death toll from Thursday's fire to 42. (02)

Death toll reaches 20 in ferry inferno

Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A search-and-rescue team recovered Saturday the bodies of four more passengers from the ferry Levina 1, which caught fire Thursday, bringing the death toll in the disaster to 20.

Navy ship KRI Paulau Raibu brought ashore the bodies of Agus, bin Padja, 40, a resident of Sukabumi, West Java, and Ahmad Fauzi, 43, a resident of Banyumas, Central Java, while the other two deceased have yet to be identified.

Their bodies were found some 35 miles out to sea from Tanjung Priok Port, North Jakarta.

The four were among more than 300 people on board the 27-year-old ferry that burst into flames shortly after setting out from Tanjung Priok Port for Pangkal Balam Port on Bangka Island, near South Sumatra, early Thursday.

An official from the rescue team, Panji Nirwana, said both men had sustained severe burns.

The Transportation Ministry said that as of Saturday 15 people were still missing, although a source at the Indonesian Red Cross who asked for anonymity said that at least 89 people were still missing.

Ocean Safety Board head investigator Comr. Ramses Kamsudin said that an investigation into the accident had been launched.

A preliminary probe has indicated that negligence on the part of the boat's operator caused the fire.

Investigators are still questioning the captain of the Levina 1, Andi Kurniawan, although the owner of the vessel, PT Praga Jaya Sentosa, has yet to be summoned.

Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa has ordered the Directorate of Sea Transportation to revoke the license of the company due to the difference between the total on the ship's official passenger manifest, 275, and the number of people who were on the ship when it sank, believed to be more than 300.

The directorate also suspended Tanjung Priok harbormaster J. Karelantang on Friday over his inability to account for the ambiguous passenger numbers.

The preliminary investigation has also found that the boat's documents were not inspected before it set sail.

The remains of the ferry were towed into Tanjung Priok on Saturday evening, after being salvaged by the TB Jayakarta III from about 40 miles to the northeast of the port.

Anxious families and friends waited at the port, saying they were "confused" by the promises made by the ship's operator to take care of their daily needs while the search-and-rescue operation was under way.

Saidi, a toy seller from Cirebon, West Java, said he had spent two nights at the port without knowing who was responsible for the fate of his missing son, Junaedy, and nephew, Makrus.

"Since I arrived there has been no explanation at all from the authorities on what is best to do. I don't know how long we are going to have to wait like this," said Saidi, who also regularly travels to Bangka Island.

Saidi said that he had heard from other families that the boat's owner was giving money to survivors but that he didn't know how much was being provided or how to claim it.

"They gave the money quietly to some people, but what about us?" he said.

A group of 14 people from Bulakamba, Brebes, in Central Java, said they were looking for people from their village who had been passengers on the ship.

"We are confused about who is responsible for us. We came here because our relatives are missing in the accident and we heard that the ferry company would take care of lodging and other needs. Don't treat us like country bumpkins," said Sobirin, a member of the Bulakamba group.(02)

Board says blaze was result of negligence

Saturday, February 24, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Investigators suspect negligence on the part of the Levina I ferryboat's operator caused the fire which killed at least 16 people and injured 18 others at sea earlier this week.

At least 17 people are believed missing, although the Indonesian Red Cross said families had reported some 100 possible missing passengers.

Ocean Safety Board head investigator Comr. Ramses Kamsudin said Friday that authorities found, after questioning ship captain Andi Kurniawan, that the boat had not had its sailing documents inspected.

The board is jointly managed by police, the Indonesian Navy, and immigration authorities.

Before setting out for Pangkal Balam port on Bangka Island, the boat, owned by PT Praga Jaya Sentosa, only underwent a mechanical check and a weight check.

Those possibly responsible for the negligence include the ship's crew, the port administrator and the harbormaster, said Ramses.

The 27-year-old roll-on/roll-off ship was carrying 42 trucks, eight cars and five motorcycles.

The fire allegedly started in a truck believed to be loaded with chemical substances. Worse, Ramses said, the captain did not check the truck's contents before sailing.

"He only checked the vehicles' register numbers and types," he said.

The boat's manifest shows there were 275 people on board, but the real number was more than 300.

The ship was not designed for channel crossings and lengthy journeys, Ramses said.

"I am bewildered that this ship was given permission to sail by the port's administration bureau," he added.

On Friday, Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa ordered his subordinate to temporarily suspend Praga Jaya Sentosa's operating license, pending the completion of the search for the 17 missing passengers and the result of the investigation. (02)

Police arrest rice speculators

Thursday, February 22, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police arrested three rice wholesalers Monday for allegedly selling subsidized state rice under major brand names in order to jack up the price.

The suspects could be charged under the 1999 State Security Law, particularly Article 107 on the distribution of staple foods. If convicted, the three could receive life in prison, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said.

The three men are alleged to have purchased subsidized rice from the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) and then relabeled it in order to pass it off as higher quality rice.

One of the suspects, identified by the initials BH, was arrested by the North Jakarta Police's special crimes unit at his wholesale shop in Tanah Merah. The other two suspects, identified as KH, 31, and SY, 33, were apprehended at their homes in Cilincing, North Jakarta.

Police confiscated 175 sacks, or 8.5 tons, of Bulog rice from BH's store. A total of 1.2 tons of rice was confiscated from the houses of KH and SY, who both reportedly told officers they purchased the rice for Rp 4,200 (about 46 US cents) per kilogram and sold it for Rp 4,640 per kg.

The suspects said they had sold about seven tons of rice in the past week.

Officer Yoga said the men were illegally profiting from subsidized rice stocks released by Bulog to keep rice affordable for the poor.

"They might have bought the rice from poor people who got it from the Bulog operation, or they hired people to pose as the poor to buy the Bulog rice. They then relabeled the rice to make it appear like it was better quality rice, in order to sell it at higher prices," Yoga said.

In addition to facing charges under the State Security Law, Yoga said the suspects could also be charged with selling falsely labeled goods.

Recent floods in Greater Jakarta and in many of the country's rice-producing areas have caused prices of the commodity to rise over the past several weeks.

Despite 80,000 tons of subsidized rice being released in the city from Bulog's stockpiles and the city's primary rice market in Cipinang, East Jakarta, prices have continued climbing, reaching more than Rp 6,000 ($0.66) per kilogram. Before the floods, the price was about Rp 4,000.

Authorities believe much of the subsidized rice has failed to make its way to the intended target, the poor, instead being bought up by speculators, who turn around and resell the rice for a profit. (02)

For some, no respite as floods surge back

Monday, February 19, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While most flood victims have returned home, hundreds other have had to leave theirs again.

As of Sunday, 1,900 people from South Jakarta and 800 from West Jakarta were living in shelters, having fled flooding that submerged their houses Friday night.

Muhamad Salim, the secretary of a neighborhood unit in Petogogan, South Jakarta, said most residents had not had enough sleep since Jakarta's massive floods earlier this month.

"We've constantly been worried about the next flood ... every time we heard news of rain in Bogor or Depok, we packed our belongings because it usually takes five to six hours for the floodwater to reach us," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

There are about 280 houses in Muhamad's neighborhood, which is located on the side of the Krukut River.

A lack of sleep and tiredness from cleaning up the damage from the last flood meant residents were caught off guard at dawn Saturday, when they woke up to find out that up to a meter of water had inundated their homes overnight.

One resident, Yasin, said people had voluntarily erected seven makeshift kitchens in the neighborhood last week, but had already stopped using them because they had not expected another flood.

Aid was also hard to come by in the flood-prone area. "We heard that lots of people got money from the Saudi Arabian Embassy but we don't know why we didn't get our share," said Salim.

While residents still had some of the free medicine handed out by health workers last week, they were in need of rice and clean water.

"Many people still have some instant noodles from last week but we really need rice to cook since the price soared this week," Salim added.

The flooded areas were also in need of children's and babies' supplies.

Meanwhile, heavy rain in the city on Saturday evening caused water levels at the Manggarai, Karet and Pulogadung sluice gates to rise, triggering a level III alert.

Water gushed onto the street, causing traffic jams in 83 places along roads in East Jakarta, the city police Traffic Management Center reported.

The city administration reported a death toll of 48 from the recent floods, which affected 70 percent of the city as well as neighboring areas.

Some 300,000 people were also forced to flee their homes.(02)

How many officers does it take to change a light bulb?

Saturday, February 17, 2007
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

If a traffic light has been broken for a long time and there is no sign it is going to be fixed anytime soon -- even if it is just a matter of changing the bulb -- there has most likely been some confusion.

The Jakarta Police's data on the number of outdoor lighting fixtures that were left inoperative after the floods in the city early this month does not match the Jakarta Transportation Agency's, moreover it seems to fluctuate from day to day.

The city police's Traffic Management Center (TMC) reported Monday that 36 of 345 traffic lights in the capital were inoperative. On Wednesday, the figure increased to 44. It dropped to 20 Thursday, before climbing to 28 Friday.

Meanwhile, the transportation agency said Thursday only four lights were not working.

"The damaged traffic lights have created confusion at some intersections," said TMC officer Adj. Sr. Comr. Crisnanda.

He said 91 lights were not working properly in the first week after the floods, with 274 separate instances of traffic lights failing.

"Until now, we are still experiencing problems with many of the lights. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't," said Crisnanda.

In normal conditions, traffic signals might be out two or three times a day, he said.

The high number of broken lighting fixtures at present has forced police to deploy hundreds of officers to control the traffic.

"It's possible the city transportation agency just doesn't know about the real number of broken lights. We know because our officers are in the field and they report back to use every minute," Crisnanda said.

Separately, Udar Pristono, the deputy head of the city transportation agency, said the police count was too high.

"Where did they get that number? That's too many," Pristono told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

"On Tuesday we had trouble with 11 traffic lights but we fixed some of them and there are only four broken ones left," he said.

The four traffic lights that are still not working are located on Jl. Joko Sutono in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta; Jl. Brawijaya in Darmawangsa, South Jakarta; Jl. Jembatan Dua, Tubagus Angke in North Jakarta; and in Ciputat, South Jakarta.

He said there were a number of reasons why traffic lights might not be working, such as an electrical short circuit, a power outage, the light's components were water damaged or a bulb was broken.

"If the problem is an electric short circuit, we can fix it in one or days, but if it's because the power is out, we have to wait for state power firm PLN to put it back on," Pristono said. (02)