1994: The battle between police and criminals goes on
1994: The battle between police and criminals goes on
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): As in previous years, the Greater Jakarta area
has seen crimes, ranging from thefts with battery, aggravated
assault and student brawls to white collar crime, in 1994.
The only significant difference in this year's crime record
from last year's is the increasing role of foreign citizens,
including embassy workers.
And it is strongly believed that the role of foreigners in
crime might even be higher in 1995.
Above all, 1994, the Chinese Year of the Dog, can be said to
have been an arena for the continued duel between security
officers and criminals.
The battle going on in that arena has attracted the attention
of the public and the news media people because many of the
victims and suspects in crime cases were connected with well-
known figures, wealthy Chinese businessmen, or the so-called
"untouchable people".
The death of a young businessman at the house of noted young
actress, Ria Irawan; the killing of Army Brigadier General TMF
Tampubolon; the murder of entertainment businessman Nyo Beng
Seng, the alleged killing of six-year-old Levina Dwisy in Ancol,
the brutal assassination of ex-convict Johny Sembiring and the
arrest of Yorrys Raweyai of the powerful Pemuda Pancasila youth
organization are examples of cases, which have dominated local
media reports throughout the year.
The Jakarta Post published 48 articles on the death of Rifardi
Soekarnoputra at Ria's house, 26 others about Tampubolon's
killing and 19 about the murder of Beng Seng.
And as in years past, 1994 saw the public on the outside
looking in as the investigations into many top crime cases left
everyone guessing as to who had done what and when, and, perhaps
most intriguing of all, who was guilty, who was innocent, and who
was "playing" behind the scene.
Some of the cases have been classified by the police as "still
under intensive investigation" or "lacking material evidence".
And the slowness of the police investigation of certain cases, in
particular those involving strong figures and wealthy Chinese,
has drawn harsh criticism from various circles. They accuse the
police having no power to stop the intervention of the "invisible
hands" of influential figures in their investigation.
In cases involving high-income Chinese which have yet to be
solved, for example, many have insinuated that police officers
had asked for bribes from suspects, as well as the victims, or
their relatives.
City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hindarto strongly denied such
allegations. "There's no such foul play in any of our
investigations. The uncompleted cases are just one of the
problems, such as ongoing investigations, or the lack of enough
material evidence to detain suspects, that the police have to
face," Hindarto told the Post recently.
Even though the total number of crimes in the city for 1994
has yet to be announced, it is strongly estimated to remain
around last year's total of 31,847.
Data at City Police Headquarters indicated that 1993 saw fewer
crimes than 1992, which registered 32,777 crimes committed, and
that the total of suspected criminals caught in 1993 reached
12,219.
The trends in crime for 1994 in the nation's capital, saw a
continued tendency toward sadistic crimes and vandalism. But
thanks to the massive joint military and police operation against
criminals and illegal traders of drugs and liquor, the numbers
have been kept as low as possible, with no significant rise over
last year's figures expected.
More than 1,000 people were arrested during the special
operation this year, with tens of thousands of pills and bottles
of spirits seized.
Violence was reciprocal in 1994, with police officers shooting
and killing dozens of criminals during the year. All police
shootings were determined to have taken place under strict
adherence to procedures against criminals attempting to escape
from their custody.
It is, of course, not easy for one to probe the true story
behind the shootings of crime suspects as most of the incidents
took place during the early hours of the morning in out of the
way places.
Among the most surprising trends recorded during 1994, is the
significant increase of vehicle thefts and the involvement of
students in crimes.
More than 450 cars and 300 motorcycles have been seized by the
police, but the number of stolen vehicles is believed to have
been higher than that.
Police claimed they were facing barriers in probing the
vehicle theft rings due to the fact the thieves left no traces at
the scenes of crime and the way the thieves torn apart the
vehicles to offer the parts on the black market.
Besides the frustration off battling vehicle theft, the time
and energy of the police have been heavily taxed by student
brawls, taking place in almost every part of the city.
Learning from their year-to-year experience, the police have
decided to impose severe punishment against the students and
their schools beginning in 1995.
"We'll close down the teaching and learning process of a
school whose students are believed to have ignited a brawl for at
least three months," said Lt. Col. SY Wenas, chief of the South
Jakarta police precinct.
Police found that one of the main factors sparking the brawls
is the heavy business-mindedness of the schools' operators and
the lack of an authoritative bearing among teachers.
For example, a school in South Jakarta noted for frequent
involvement in brawls is used by three different groups of
students in three shifts until late into the evening.
"Thus, no one can guarantee the students can avoid getting
into a heated argument during the changing of the shifts," Wenas
said.
Today, student brawls are no longer dominated by junior and
senior high school boys. University students, including military-
educated regiment members, have also entered the arena without
embarrassment at their immature behavior.
In Tangerang, Depok and Bekasi, a series of robberies and
murders recorded the fact that criminals have moved their
activities to the outskirts of the capital, where the population
is less concentrated.
The first top crime story in the early days of the year 1994
was the brutal killing of six members of a family in Bekasi.
Armed with both blunt and sharp objects, a construction
worker, formerly employed at their home, killed Herbin
Hutagalung's wife, sister and four of his children, ranging in
age between three and 14 years. The single eyewitness of the
murder is Hutagalung's five-year-old daughter, Ade Putri Ayu, who
suffered serious wound to her head.
The suspect, identified as Suyono, alias Gendut, is still at
large. He is listed as one of the nation's most wanted criminals.
He is currently believed to have migrated and to be working
somewhere in Malaysia.
"I will not rest until I find this man," the Chief of the City
Police Crime Investigation Directorate Col. Nurfaizi, has
pledged. "His position as the single suspect in this case is
absolutely clear and we know all we need to know about him."
A week after the murder of the Hutagalung family, the city was
buzzing with the news of the death of young businessman Rifardi
Soekarnoputra at starlet Ria Irawan's house on Jl. Lebak Lestari
in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.
After a series of "long, tough and complicated"
investigations, police announced that the death of Rifardi, Ria's
ex-boyfriend, was caused by a mixture of alcohol and
cyclobarbital, a kind of sleeping tablet derived from
barbiturates.
In connection with her presence at the scene of crime, Ria was
charged with hindering a police investigation, failing to
immediately report a case, tampering with and disposing of
material evidence from near Rifardi's body and destroying
substances believed to have caused his death.
The police expressed their deep disappointment when judges
declared that the dossiers on Ria were not complete due to the
absence of material evidence.
Days afterwards, Hindarto vowed to do his best to bring the
actress back into court. Up to now, Ria is still on the street,
leaving a big question in the minds of the public about the
existing law system.
As the days of 1994 ticked by with reports of attacks by
muggers, robbers and pickpockets armed with sickles, knives and
revolvers on the streets, the public shuddered at still another
tragedy stemming from a street crime.
Brig. Gen. TMF Tampubolon, an expert staff member to the Armed
Forces commander and a former member of the elite red-beret
Kopassus squad, was brutally stabbed to death in April.
The incident started when young men shouted dirty words at
Tampubolon as he traveled along a dimly lit road in Cipinang
Muara, East Jakarta. Upon hearing the taunts, he turned his sedan
around and questioned the group of four young men. During a
heated debate, he grabbed the collar of one of the men who
suddenly took out a knife and brutally stabbed him. The general
died an hour after the incident.
Following the death of the one-star Army general and in
preparation for the APEC meeting to be held in November, the city
police and military worked together to get criminals off of
Jakarta's streets.
"Crimes in the city have reached an alarming level and things
are feared to deteriorate if proper measures aren't taken to stop
them," Kopassus commander Brig. Gen. Agum Gumelar said at that
time.
The operation, known as Operation Cleansing, involves almost
16,700 personnel from the police and military members and
officers of the Kopassus corps, Navy and Air Force.
The ongoing anti-crime drive, aiming at teaching criminals
that crime doesn't pay, has sparked controversy although some
Jakartans support the operation, saying that it makes them feel
more secure.
Unfortunately, because they were operating under a limited
budget, with little equipment and a lack of personnel, the police
and military could only stand by hopelessly when most of the
arrested suspects were released, or punished with what were
viewed as insufficient terms of imprisonment by the court.
A number of gamblers netted in the drive were released right
after their arrests, with not one of them ever being brought to
trial.
Another example is the case of Yorrys Raweyai, an influential
figure of the powerful Pemuda Pancasila youth organization, who
was arrested on gambling charges and suspected of playing a role
in the torture and death of a male servant in September 1993.
As of today, although he is facing trial, Yorrys is still
free.
During 1994, the capital also recorded a series of
demonstrations and protests against government policy and the
actions and policies of various foreign countries.
In April, the city was hit by rumors of racial riots made by
unidentified parties in a series of telephone calls to news media
offices and large-scale companies.
In order to calm the public, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja called
on the people to ignore the rumors spreading throughout the city
that racial riots were taking place across Jakarta.
The year also recorded the illegal ownership of guns by
individuals.
In the late evening of July 13, Maj. Gen. AM Hendropriyono,
who was the city military commander, was on his way home in a
military sedan driven by his chauffeur. On the Jagorawi toll
road, Bambang Rusmintarjo, an immigration official, shot off his
Colt .32 revolver.
Hendro's driver had reportedly flashed the car's high beam
lights several times to let Bambang know of his intention to pass
him, but Bambang kept blocking the way.
Upset over the continued high beam signals, Bambang brandished
his revolver outside of the car's window and fired three times
into the air, apparently not aware that it was a military
commander's car behind him.
He was arrested three hours later at his house, but there has
been no information released about whether the dossiers on his
case have been completed.
Among the other major crime stories recorded this year were
two kidnappings; one in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, and the other
is Cawang Kapling, East Jakarta.
Both cases occurred in the last month of the year.
The first abduction case involved the kidnapping of a teenage
girl by her family's former driver, who held her inside the
family's BMW sedan parked in their garage on the morning of Dec.
8. The seven-hour drama ended when three police officers moved in
to release the hostage and shot and killed her captor. Cecep
Rozali died from three bullets wounds to his head. His hostage,
Evelyn, 13, had suffered stab wounds to her head, during the
ordeal.
The second case involved two Australian private detectives
hired by a German woman to take her two boys from her estranged
husband. After having worked for many months with no significant
results, the two detectives from the Perth-based Protective
Services International came along with their employer to a house
of the children's father's friend on Jl. Madrasah II No. 5 in
Cawang Kapling.
After having the boys in their custody and planning to leave
for Perth, the three were arrested by city police detectives at
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. A Jakarta resident, a
former member of the Air Force, was also arrested for his alleged
role in helping with the abduction attempt.
Among the prominent criminal cases successfully solved by the
city police during the year were the Tampubolon killing and
Evelyn's kidnapping.
With the year 1995 less than a week ahead, a number of 1994's
crimes have yet to be solved by the police, as a huge number of
new problems appear to be waiting.
Like other metropolitan areas, Jakarta, covering an area of
650 square kilometers and now home to a staggering nine million
people, is prone to various types of crimes.
A study conducted recently by the Service Center for Justice
and Dedication to Law of the University of Indonesia revealed
that a total of 11 crimes occur in Jakarta every 13 minutes.
Of course, nobody wants to be a victim of crime. For that
reason, the police always hope for the support of the public.
They want the public to immediately report any form of crime
witness or hear about.
It is true, indeed, that the police and military are not the
only ones responsible for preventing and solving crimes in the
capital.
The strongest and most effective force against crime is the
active participation of the public in crime prevention.