Sunday’s horrific car accident in which a car allegedly driven by a 13-year-old in Jakarta was involved in a pile-up where six people died and nine were seriously injured gets more extraordinary by the day.
You couldn’t make it up. Jakarta papers reported that Abdul Qodir Jaelani, 13, youngest son of popular Indonesian rock musician Ahmad Dhani, 41, was driving a black Mitsubishi Lancer home after dropping off his girlfriend early on Sunday morning. That’s right; a 13-year old boy was driving his girlfriend home in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The accident happened when the Mitsubishi sports car, moving at high speed on the Jakarta-bound lane, apparently struck a road separator, jumped into a different lane and collided with two other vehicles.
The Mitsubishi had been given to him as a birthday present. That’s correct, someone, presumably his parents, had given him, or allowed him to be given, a powerful car for his 13th birthday. Most rich kids that age get iphones, but no, this one got the keys to a potentially lethal set of wheels.
Local outrage
This has sparked outrage in Jakarta and a huge debate on the excesses of the rich and famous, as well as underage driving. The child himself did not escape unscathed and is injured in hospital with a broken leg.
Jakarta police have reportedly named him as a suspect for reckless driving, an offence that carries up to six years in jail. Jakarta police told reporters that statements will be taken from the boy's parents, who are divorced, on how he learnt to drive. Traffic police said a urine test on Abdul Qodir, known as Dul, found no trace of alcohol or drugs.