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Jakarta hit by worst violence in decades
Anne Barrowclough - From: The Times April 15, 2010 2:04PM
HUNDREDS of rioters have clashed with police over a sacred Muslim cleric's tomb in Indonesia, killing two policemen and injuring at least 145.
Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono immediately ordered an investigation into the worst civil unrest for decades in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, which left one police officer with his hand sliced off.
The riots began over an apparent misunderstanding over the fate of the tomb of Habib Hasan bin Muhammed Al Hadad, a revered 18th century Arab cleric known to Indonesians as Mbah Priok.
Shortly after dawn members of the public order branch of the police, known as Satpol, arrived to evict squatters and remove illegal buildings on the land surrounding the tomb. But residents of Tanjung Priok port, where the tomb is located, believed the police and city officials were there to tear it down and attacked them, spurring running battles that lasted for several hours.
Around 2,600 police and security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and batons to beat back the protesters who retaliated with rocks and petrol bombs.
Television footage showed chaotic scenes. Satpol officers armed with shields and batons were filmed repeatedly beating a resident, while other images showed residents kicking and throwing rocks at an injured police officer lying on the ground.
A reporter said he saw several protesters, including teenagers, being beaten by police and dragged away bleeding.
By nightfall the situation was so tense that 500 security forces had to be evacuated to a nearby police station because leaving by road was seen to be too dangerous. Just after midnight, with the rioters’ numbers swollen to 1000, they attacked and set fire to five police cars parked outside a hospital where the injured had been taken, and patrolled the surrounding hills searching for wounded policemen.
“The mass anger was horrible and beyond our expectation for what was a simple case,” said Jakarta city spokesman Cucu Kurnia. He said seven of the 130 wounded were in critical condition, including a security officer who had his stomach slashed open with a machete and another whose hand was cut off.
Mr Kurnia insisted the officials and police were not there to destroy the tomb.”We did not intend to demolish the tomb, but we want to evict the illegal settlers,” he said.
Both sides blamed the other for the violence. Demonstrators claimed that Satpol officers targeted two teenagers who broke from their ranks, while police claimed the protesters attacked first.
But officals joined protesters in accusing Satpol of excessive violence. Last week, a number of organisations had demanded that the controversial force be disbanded, blaming it for repeated human rights violations.
Mr Kurnia told a news conference that Satpol officers could not restrain themselves after they were attacked. Wanda Hamida, a member of the Jakarta Provincial Legislative council, said that Satpol officers were out of control, even attacking city officials. “If a (council) member can get punched by Satpol, how about the people? Satpol was just so brutal,” Ms Hamida told the Jakarta Globe newspaper.
Local resident Amin told the newspaper he and his father and brother were delivering water to friends guarding the tomb site when they were attacked by police officers. He said first his father was punched and when he tried to protect him he too was attacked. “They pulled off my clothes until I was almost naked. Then they tied a rope around my hands so I could not do anything while they kicked and punched me,” he said.
But other rioters, armed with wooden sticks, beat any wounded police officers they could find in the streets while others searched cars in the area for fugitive police, ordering motorists to show their identity cards.
By early this morning, relative calm had settled over the area.
Mr Yudhoyono has ordered Jakarta’s governor to meet all parties involved and put any evictions on hold until a solution can be reached
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Officers strive to polish brutal image
Indah Setiawati , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Fri, 04/16/2010 10:46 AM | City
The city’s public order officers, widely known as Satpol PP, have long been an unpopular arm of Jakarta’s law enforcement structure.
The force is made up of around 10,000 officers, who are the foot-men tasked with the administration’s dirty jobs, be it cracking down on street vendors, demolishing illegal billboards and buildings, or policing beggars and street musicians.
In the wake of Wednesday’s riot at Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, these officers again took center stage, only this time they have received wide public sympathy.
Three were killed while another 59 were injured attempting to disperse a crowd of people and clear land owned by the city authority.
Sudi Sastrorejo, 60, said his son-in-law, Urip Widodo, had worked as public order officer for five years.
“Contrary to what people think of Satpol PP, my son-in-law is a good person.
“He always tries to help others and has many friends,” he said of Urip, who was severely injured on Wednesday.
Urip is currently being treated at Tarakan hospital, Central Jakarta.
Sudi said that after five years with the force, his son-in-law was still employed as a contract worker.
Public Order officers come from various background aside from the regular high-school graduates.
They are recruited from pockets of Jakarta’s poorest neighborhoods and all are employed as contract workers rather than permanent civil servants.
The contract-based officers are paid less than Rp 1.2 million a month, while the civil servants who organize the officers and drive the patrol trucks can earn more than Rp 2 million.
“Compared with the job’s risks, it’s not worth it,” said Tomi Chayono, an officer with the Central Jakarta municipality.
Tomi is currently recovering from an injury after he was hit by a motorcycle while chasing a 3-in-1 car jockey.
Higher ranked officers in the squad are usually senior civil servants or retired low-ranking military or police officers.
Senior officer Boman, for example, is a retired Army officer who joined the force in 2000 to supplement his pension and support his family.
Public order officers are no different from other impoverished Jakartans, but the squad has to bear the burden of squashing fellow citizens as part of their duty.
Hambali, who has served the squad for 10 years, voiced the job’s internal conflict.
“When it comes to work, it is a burden on my conscience. It’s a dilemma. The vendors are looking for money to eat, and so am I,” he said.
“But since they don’t comply with the rules, it is my job to put them in order,” Public Order division has a long history, stretching since the Dutch colonial in 1620.
The Dutch established the so called BAILLUW, an agency consisting of policemen who also function as judge and prosecutor handling disputes between the residents.
Yogyakarta was the first to establish Public Order officer Detasemen Polisi Pamong Praja on Oct. 30, 1948. On March 3, 1950 the whole Java and Madura had set up the squad following an enactment of Public Order Agency Law in 1947. (map)
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