Crocodile Terrorizes Residents in North Jakarta

Authorities are trying to find out where the crocodile has come from. Amid the ongoing hunt, a high-ranking official is urging authorities not to use firearms in dealing with the reptile.

ANTARA FOTO/DHEMAS REVIYANTO

Officers from the National Police’s Baharkam Water Police Directorate patrol waters off Ancol Beach in Jakarta on Sunday (17/6/2018). The patrol was conducted to give people a sense of security following the circulation of footage about the appearance of a crocodile at the Pondok Dayung dock.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – A crocodile that emerged at the Pondok Dayung dock in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, last Thursday is causing fear in the area. Other than raising concern among locals, organizers of the 2018 Asian Sailing Championship (ASC) are also deeply worried.

Some 240 athletes from 15 countries are expected to join the ASC. “We need to guarantee their safety,” Indonesian Sailing Federation (PB Porlasi) secretary-general Othniel Mamahit said in Jakarta on Sunday (17/6/2018).

ASC 2018, which will also serve as a trial run for the Asian Games arena, will be held at the Sailing Arena at Ancol West Coast on June 19. The sailors will 3-5 kilometers off the coastline.

Othniel said that the organizing committee needed to maintain the psychological composure of ASC participants. The ASC is included in the Asian Sailing Federation’s official agenda. “We don’t want [the participants] to be worried. They are still focused on their training and have yet to hear the news,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Rika Lestari, the spokeswoman of resort management company PT Taman Impian Jaya Ancol (TIJA), said it was unlikely the crocodile would swim onto Ancol Beach, which was located 10 km from the spot where it had reportedly appeared.

She said the waters of Ancol were different to those of Pondok Dayung, but added that, nevertheless, TIJA management was on full alert, with 260 security officers and coast guard guarding the area 24/7.

Separately, National Police deputy chief and Indonesian Asian Games chef de mission (CdM) Comr. Gen. Syafruddin said he had deployed a team to hunt the crocodile. Asian Games venues for Jet Ski and sailing competitions are located on Ancol’s West Coast.

KOMPAS/WISNU WIDIANTORO

Syafruddin

On Sunday morning, the National Police’s water police directorate combed the Jakarta Bay between Pondok Dayung and Ancol.

Don\'t shoot!

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said she had urged the authorities not to shoot the crocodile. The ministry is working with the Navy to try to evacuate the animal. “We ask that firearms not be used in dealing with the animal,” Siti said.

As for the origins of the animal, believed to be a saltwater crocodile, the ministry said it might have escaped from a captive breeding site. It was not likely that the animal had grown in the wild.

KOMPAS/IWAN SETIYAWAN

Siti Nurbaya Bakar

Siti said she had asked her ministry’s director general for natural resources and ecosystem preservation to check on all captive breeding sites and conservation agencies around Pluit in North Jakarta and find the possible cause behind the crocodile’s appearance. “A team from the Natural Resources Conservation Agency [BKSDA] is on the case,” said the ministry’s biodiversity conservation director, Indra Eksplotasia.

National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) head of operations and alerts Made Oka said the agency would continue its patrols to protect tourists over the next seven days.

(KEL/DVD/DRI/JOG/ICH)