Expert calls for action on police who back hoodlums
Expert calls for action on police who back hoodlums
JAKARTA (JP): Criminologist Mulyana W. Kusuma has urged
security forces to use internal disciplinary action on any
officers caught backing hoodlums in extorting money from vendors
and other people.
The lecturer at the University of Indonesia's School of Social
and Political Sciences said yesterday security officers are
inconsistent in acting against hoodlums.
Other observers have also criticized authorities in response
to a gang war which broke out last Thursday in the Tanah Abang
market area, Central Jakarta.
A former police general, Maj. Gen.(ret.) Koesparmono Irsan,
said Tanah Abang hoodlums have amassed power only because the
authorities have shown no intention of stopping them from
operating.
Mulyana said because certain hoodlums, known locally as
preman, have security officers as their accomplices, "they feel
secure in their activities" and act more harshly in extorting
money from people. This leads to criminal acts, he said.
A consistent operation is necessary to prevent hoodlums and
their gangs from becoming stronger, he added.
"The inconsistency of operations against hoodlums is
tantamount to letting their activities develop into crimes,"
Mulyana said.
Currently, police only react after an incident and stop
shortly after, he noted.
In 1995 police and military vowed to fight hoodlumism across
the city following the killing of a police officer and the
wounding of another in the Blok M shopping area, South Jakarta.
However operations slowed down and hoodlums are again
operating extensively.
Mulyana said a continuous operation is possible because the
number of officers outnumber hoodlums.
"If hoodlums are violating the law, like forcing and
threatening vendors into paying them, the police should take
stern action against them," Mulyana said.
He added that if police let gangs continue to extort money
from vendors, "it's the same as creating the opportunity for new
hoodlums to emerge."
On Saturday, gang members in Tanah Abang said they would "make
peace" with their rivals only if the other group move out of the
area. A planned meeting yesterday between the two gangs at the
military headquarters was postponed without clear reasons.
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said yesterday he supports every
operation against hoodlums.
"Hoodlums only reduce traders' incomes, which are already
small. If hoodlums no longer operate, traders and the people
around them will feel secure," Surjadi said.
Besides, he said, traders could use the money they usually pay
to hoodlums to improve their welfare or expand their businesses.
Earlier reports said the two gangs in Tanah Abang collect at
least Rp 10 million (US$4,210) a month from vendors, shop owners,
more than 100 prostitutes in the nearby Bongkaran area and public
transport drivers passing through the area.
Their "security guarantees" cost between Rp 1,000 and Rp
15,000 per day. Traders refusing to pay risk being attacked by
hoodlums. (ste)