Prosecutors must take tests for guns<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Prosecutors who wish to be armed will not receive any special
\ntreatment when applying for gun licenses, despite the attorney
\ngeneral's recent request, according to Jakarta Police chief Insp.
\nGen. Firman Gani.<\/p>\n
Firman said that prosecutors, like anyone else wanting a
\npermit, would have to undergo the standard battery of tests to
\ndetermine whether or not they are psychologically suited to
\ncarrying a weapon.<\/p>\n
\"The selection won't be done on an institutional basis, even
\nfor the Attorney General's Office,\" said Firman.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh --
\nprompted by Saturday's shooting of a guard at the house of a
\ndeputy attorney general handling corruption cases -- said he
\nwould ask the National Police to give special treatment to
\nprosecutors applying for gun permits.<\/p>\n
Although the National Police officially issue gun permits,
\nthey only issue them based on recommendations from the police
\nstation in the vicinity of the applicant's residence.<\/p>\n
Abdul Rahman stressed that his office did not want to arm all
\nof its roughly 5,800 prosecutors, but just those working on
\ncorruption cases, who were the most at risk.<\/p>\n
In May of last year a prosecutor dealing with corruption cases
\nwas gunned down in Central Sulawesi. Last December, the house of
\nthe chief prosecutor of Bengkulu province was burned down. Police
\nsuspect arson in relation to the prosecutor's investigation of a
\nRp 17 billion corruption case.<\/p>\n
Last Saturday, a 49-year-old guard was shot and wounded at the
\nhome of the deputy attorney general in charge of special crimes,
\nSudhono Iswahyudi, in Kebayoran Lama, which is next door to the
\nSouth Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.<\/p>\n
The police have said that the motive for the shooting was not
\nto terrorize Sudhono -- who was not home at the time -- but that
\nit was purely a robbery attempt. According to Antara, police
\nalready know the whereabouts of the two suspected robbers and
\nwill arrest them shortly.<\/p>\n
Firman agreed that prosecutors be armed, particularly because
\nthey are vulnerable to acts of violence. However, he said due to
\nrecent cases, police could not afford to be lax in issuing gun
\nlicenses.<\/p>\n
In February, a city public order officer, Krisman Siregar --
\nwithout provocation -- shot dead a 28-year-old man guarding a
\ndisputed parcel of land. Last August, comedian Parto fired a shot
\ninto the air in a restaurant lobby because reporters were
\nswarming around him. Both were licensed to own and use a gun by
\nthe police.<\/p>\n
According to police records, nationwide there are 34,150
\nlicensed civilian gun holders. Police also estimate that there
\nare around 100,000 unlicensed firearms circulating in the Greater
\nJakarta area alone.<\/p>",
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