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)