Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is not just tackling flooding and traffic, he also wants to eliminate one of Jakarta’s greatest social problems – the pernicious preman who use thug-like tactics to extort money from people for everything from parking to apartments.
Ahok says he has a comprehensive, surefire plan to eradicate such thugs from the capital and he said the Jakarta police had agreed with the city government to anticipate the spread of thugs.
“We are trying to reduce the thugs who take money through the installation of parking meters and parking attendants who are given salaries twice as high as the minimum wage. In this way, they can be more respected. But if they still try to extort money, we’ll get rid of them,” Ahok said at City Hall today, as quoted by Kompas.
Ahok also said the city government was actively getting rid of all slum areas, which are often used by premans as hiding places. The residents of those slum will be moved to low-cost housing provided by the government.
But in the past, preman have taken advantage of such housing by illegally brokering the apartments to those willing to pay more. So Ahok said that, in the future, low cost housing would be paid for directly to the city via ATM.
Finally, Ahok said the city government had plans to put up as many as 2,500 CCTV surveillance cameras throughout the capital. He hoped that they would help minimize crime.
“If they’re preman, I must be the head preman. If you can earn money from a parking lot, I’ll make your money official. So, you’re working with me only as the new and official preman of Jakarta. Making me the the head preman of Jakarta,” Basuki said.
