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.