An officer from the Jakarta Transportation Agency named Waosokhi Laoli came to City Hall today to meet with Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. He was looking to Ahok to find justice after he allegedly received brutal beatings from his co-workers in the Transport Agency for trying to stop illegal parking in Sunter, North Jakarta.
Waosokhi was able to catch the governor just as he was about to leave for a meeting with the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), but Ahok made time to listen to the officer’s sad tale.
Waosokhi had served as the commander of a squad tasked with curbing illegal parking in Lapangan Sunter. Through his work he came into conflict with other members of his own agency who managed parking in the same area. On September 7, he claims he was viciously attacked fellow officers, punched, strangled and had his head slammed into the ground.
Waosokhi showed Ahok and the media pictures of his bruises and said that he had already tried to report his fellow officers to the police but said they had done little to follow-up on incident, forcing him to come to the governor for help.
“I beg you to be decisive and fair, Pak Governor,” Waosokhi said to Ahok in the courtyard of City Hall Jakarta, as quoted by Liputan6.
Hearing the story, Ahok promised Waosokhi he would contact the Transportation Agency and investigate the matter. But Ahok also asked the officer to wait for the police to follow up on his report, promising that if the perpetrators were named suspects they would be fired from the agency immediately.
It’s sad that Waosokhi felt he needed to go all the way to Ahok in order to get justice, but it’s also not too surprising. Illegal parking is a huge criminal enterprise in Jakarta that is incredibly lucrative for the crooks who control it. They will fight tooth and nail to keep our streets clogged with illegally parked cars and they have to money to bribe off most government officials to look the other way. Here’s hoping Ahok can do something about it.
