Peter Gelling writes that a gang in Jakarta known as the “Red Axe Gang” has been attacking motorists stalled in Jakarta’s infamous traffic jams.

Police are blaming Indonesia’s ailing economy on an increase in crime.

“The changing global economy is forcing people out of work,” said Zulkarnain Adinegara, the Jakarta City Police spokesman. “And many of those people are now involving themselves in both drugs and common street crime.”

I haven rarely been approached here in Medan for money. I have come across a couple of becak (motorized rickshaw drivers) that had just come here to work, but other than that it is hard to see signs here of an economic downturn.