Riot alert centers to be set up<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto reiterated yesterday the need
\nto set up \"alert command centers\" to monitor the entire country
\nand nip unrest in the bud.<\/p>\n
Soeharto said the centers would be the first of their kind in
\nIndonesia and would be stationed at Kodim (district military
\ncommands). They would monitor situations and rumors that could
\nincite social unrest and report them to the relevant authorities.<\/p>\n
\"The centers will forward information to the concerned
\nauthorities, who will then act on them,\" Soeharto was quoted as
\nsaying by Sudomo, head of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA), who
\nmet with him yesterday. The council advises the President on
\npolicy matters.<\/p>\n
Soeharto also said the centers should be ready to receive all
\nkinds of reports from the people. No specific establishment date
\nwas mentioned.<\/p>\n
Creation of the centers was first announced by President
\nSoeharto last Friday when receiving managers of cooperatives
\nowned by Islamic boarding schools (pesantren).<\/p>\n
Soeharto said such the centers were necessary to prevent
\nfurther riots, which had occurred regularly in the past two
\nyears.<\/p>\n
According to Sudomo, the President disliked having to
\nestablish the centers. \"I know that he doesn't like to set up new
\nbodies like this,\" Sudomo said.<\/p>\n
Sudomo said since it would not be an \"operational\" body, the
\ncenters could not be said to be taking the role of an internal
\nsecurity agency, the Operation Command for Law and Order
\nRestoration (Kopkamtib), which is now defunct.<\/p>\n
Sudomo was formerly chief of the Kopkamtib, dissolved in 1989
\nto make way for a more lenient Bakorstanas, or the Agency for the
\nCoordination of Support for the Development of National
\nStability.<\/p>\n
He said the agency, to be called the \"Control Center for
\nSocial Unrest\" at the provincial level and led by the governor,
\nwould be sufficient to handle local problems and issues.<\/p>\n
Sudomo acknowledged the widening social gap was a factor in
\nrecent outbreaks of violence around the country.<\/p>\n
The violence, however, had been incited by \"some dissidents
\nand subversive groups from the left and right extremes seeking to
\ndiscredit and undermine the government.\" The groups, which Sudomo
\ndid not identify, had sought to make people believe the
\ngovernment could no longer be trusted or relied upon.<\/p>\n
\"They intend to topple the government,\" said Sudomo, a
\nretired admiral.<\/p>\n
He said certain subversive elements had taken advantage of a
\nlocalized conflict in the recent Tasikmalaya riot and aggravated
\nthe situation.<\/p>\n
But Sudomo said the riots had been \"sporadic\" and would not
\naffect the country's stability. He later called on fellow senior
\ngovernment officials and observers to avoid making \"naive\"
\ncomments about the country's current political situation.<\/p>\n
In October, thousands of Moslems in the small East Java town
\nof Situbondo took to the streets and burned dozens of churches as
\nwell as a Buddhist temple and other public facilities. Five
\npeople were killed.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 26, thousands of Moslems went on a rampage in
\nTasikmalaya, West Java over police mistreatment of three Moslem
\nteachers. Four people died and over 100 buildings were burned and
\ndamaged.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month unrest erupted in West Kalimantan when a
\nmob of 5,000 Dayak tribesmen, the local indigenous ethnic group,
\nburned and looted scores of homes and stores belonging to
\nsettlers who had migrated from the Indonesian island of Madura,
\nnorth of Java. (imn\/08)<\/p>\n
Disparity -- Page 2<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/riot-alert-centers-to-be-set-up-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }