JAKARTA GOVERNOR'S 'OPEN HOUSE' MARRED BY SCUFFLING CROWD

Jakarta, Sept 21 (ANTARA) - An "open house" function hosted by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo at City Hall on the second day of Idul Fitri on Monday was marked by a scuffle among the crowd in which at least two people were trampled down and injured.

After the governor and his deputy, Prijanto, had left the gathering at around 10.00 am, part of the thousands of people who were just outside the front gate of the premises pushed and jostled with each other to get inside where Idul Fitri parcels were being distributed.

In the melee, at least two people were injured after they fell down and were trampled under by the rest of the crowd.

The governor of Jakarta city hands out Idul Fitri parcels to everybody coming to the open house every year but each time the festivity is marred by trouble among the people attending the function.

Monday's scuffle happened although the city administration had for this year increased the number of parcels to prevent people from having to fight to get their share.

Effendi Anas, a city administration official handling community welfare, regretted the incident because the authorities thought they had taken the needed anticipatory steps.

"This year we increased the number of parcels from 4,000 to 6,000, because last year 2,000 parcels proved not to be enough," he said. In addition, the amount of a cash handout was also raised from Rp20,000 to Rp40,000.

But apparently, the number of people who came to the open house function still exceeded the available parcels and cash handouts, and this caused the struggle among the crowd.

Ahmad Hussein Alaydrus, a member of the Jakarta City Legislative Council, criticized the city administration for failing to make "appropriate preparations" for the function.

"The city administration should have made stricter security arrangements for an activity like this. Because it failed to do so, what was intended to be something good, has now led to something bad," he said.