Bus strike leaves Bekasi passengers stranded

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 03/01/2011 3:48 PM | Jakarta

More than 200 buses operated by private company PT Mayasari Bhakti did not operate from Monday to Tuesday because of a strike organized by the bus drivers and their assistants.

The strike left passengers in Bekasi, West Java, stranded for up to six hours, observers said.

Bekasi bus terminal technical services chief Wan Sudrajat said the bottleneck had been occurring since around 5 a.m., and was largely a due to the fact that most Mayasari Bakti buses were not operational.

Hundreds of Mayasari Bhakti bus drivers and their assistants in Cikarang Barat, Bekasi, staged protests against their companies’ polices.

“We demand that the head of the technical division be replaced and that the policy for targeted passenger numbers be revised,” said Hendi, a driver, as quoted by Antara.

The target to pick up 320 passengers during five rounds of the trips has been deemed too difficult, he said.

“If the target is not reached, we are punished for two weeks. How are we supposed to eat if this continues?”

91 boat people stranded in Kupang

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 01/26/2011 10:26 AM | Archipelago

At least 91 boat people of Middle Eastern origins on their way to Australia in search of political asylum were stranded on Tuesday in Naikliu village in Timor, East Nusa Tenggara.

The group were stranded after their boat was struck by high seas, and are now being detained at North Amfoang Police station.

East Nusa Tenggara Immigration Office chief Rindang Napitupulu confirmed that the group had been detained.

“Yes, those illegal immigrants were stranded in Amfoang since Tuesday evening,” Rindang said Wednesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Most of the group were from Afganistan (68), while others were from Iraq (14), Pakistan (6) and Iran (3). The group comprised 75 men, seven women and five crew members.

Rindang said police and the immigration office had yet to move the group to Kupang, because the road connecting Amfoang to Kupang was impassable in the current weather conditions.