Child killed in stampede at 
Indonesian 
VP-elect’s home

JAKARTA — An 11-year-old child was trampled to death and six people were injured in a stampede at the house of Indonesian Vice-President-elect Jusuf Kalla in Makassar, where thousands had reportedly flocked to receive a box of food and 50,000 rupiah (S$5.40) worth of Hari Raya alms on Tuesday afternoon, said media reports.

The distribution of lunch and alms is said to be part of Mr Kalla’s open house reception, a Hari Raya tradition in which people would open their doors to receive friends, relatives and the public.

A similar open house event was held in Jakarta by President-elect Joko Widodo at City Hall as well 
as outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the State Palace on Monday, although no distribution of money was reported to have 
taken place.

“Dika (Hadika) was trampled in a stampede while queuing,” Ms Hawiah, the victim’s relative, was quoted as saying by state-run Antara news agency. Hadika, a sixth grader, was rushed to the Stella Maris Hospital, but did not survive the trip. In a report by news portal Tempo.co, the victim’s mother, Ms Nahu, 38, said she had gone to the event to accompany her child.

“Dika had asked me to stay at home and offered to go get the money instead, but I was afraid because he was still very small, so I went along to accompany him,” Ms Nahu said.

Mr Kalla’s sister, Ms Fatimah Kalla, and his son Solihin Kalla, along with Makassar Mayor Ramdanny Pomanto, had reportedly visited the victim’s family and handed financial aid to the boy’s parents.

“On behalf of Mr Jusuf Kalla’s family and the Makassar city administration, I offer my condolences for this incident. We did not see this coming because there was a huge group of people and it was difficult to organise (them),” Tempo.co quoted Mr Pomanto as saying.

Makassar police chief Ferry Abraham estimated the crowd at Mr Kalla’s house at more than 5,000 people, guarded by only 200 police officials.

“The number of people made it hard to breathe and the overcrowding eventually led to a casualty,” Mr Abraham said in the same report.

Besides Hadika, six other residents — who were also part of the crowd — were injured and were also rushed to Stella Maris Hospital.

Residents lamented the poorly organised charity event, saying that organisers should not have held the distribution of alms in one line.

“There were too many people and only one place to hand out the money. There should have been 10 places,” one resident told Antara. Another resident, Mr Jauhari, said he had started queuing up at 7am, but was only able to get into the house at 10.30am. However, he did not get to meet Mr Kalla.

“I wanted to meet him, but it was crowded inside. I was also trampled and failed to meet Pak Jusuf (Kalla),” Mr Jauhari was quoted as saying by news portal Liputan6.com.

Mr Kalla won the Indonesian presidential election this month after standing as the running mate of 
Mr Widodo, the current Jakarta Governor. The Jakarta Globe