Government will dissolve Kamra despite threat of protest
Government will dissolve Kamra despite threat of protest
JAKARTA (JP): Despite facing threats of violent protest, the
government will continue with its plan to dissolve the civilian
guards of the People's Security (Kamra) on Wednesday.
"Due to the National Police's tight agenda for its year-end
activities, Kamra will officially be dissolved tomorrow
(Wednesday)," spokesman for the Ministry of Defense for foreign
cooperation Commodore A.F.M. Kamto Soetirto told The Jakarta Post
on Tuesday.
"By the end of this year, the police are supposed to
concentrate only on securing the two religious holidays,
Christmas and Idul Fitri," he said.
Kamto said the ceremony to dissolve Kamra will be held at each
city police or police precinct and will be presided over by each
city police chief and the police precinct chief, respectively.
"During the ceremony, we (government) will give them (Kamra
members) certificates of service and compensation," he said.
He, however, declined to mention the amount of the
compensation.
The government had earlier promised to give compensation to
about 36,000 Kamra, which is equivalent to a Kamra member's four
months salary.
Each Kamra member was paid Rp 200,000 (US$21) per month last
year. Their salary was increased to Rp 250,000 per month this
year.
Kamra was established in 1998 based on the Law No. 56/1998 for
civilian militia. The government initially recruited 41,000 Kamra
members, but the number has decreased due to desertion, dismissal
and various other reasons.
The 1998 Law stipulates that Kamra members will serve for one
year, with maximum extension period of one year. Their service
will end on Dec. 31, 2000.
The Jakarta administration, which houses a total 12,000 Kamra
members, has announced that it had found jobs for 8,000 Kamra
members, some 2,500 of whom will be employed by the
administration as city public order officials and the remaining
5,500 by private companies, such as PT Astra Motors, with
positions as security guards.
Meanwhile, the fate of the remaining 4,000 Kamra members in
the capital remains uncertain.
Kamto suggested that any Kamra members seeking positions in
the Indonesian Military (TNI) or the National Police, should wait
until June or July next year.
"TNI has a fixed recruitment period, between June and July
each year. If only TNI was to recruit Kamra members, then
probably only 10 of them would meet the requirements," he said.
Earlier on Monday, the Kamra members threatened to run amok if
the government does not give assurances about their future in the
next three days.
Chief of Kamra's Surakarta, Central Java, detachment P.D.
Prihanto, who led about 1,000 Kamra in a rally from the Jakarta
Police Headquarters to the House of Representatives (DPR)
building on Tuesday, separately said that Kamra members were
demanding assurances that their future would be secure.
"We do not care about the certificates, or anything else. We
only ask the government to keep its promise and gain entry for us
into the National Police, the TNI, or government offices,"
Prihanto said.
He accused the government of talking nonsense when it said
that it had jobs for the Kamra members.
"PT Astra has set requirements which are higher than the ones
needed to join the Military Academy (Akabri), while none of our
members from Jakarta have been employed by the Jakarta
administration," Prihanto said.
Most of the Kamra members are only elementary school
graduates. They were trained for only 11 days prior to being
recruited to help the police maintain nationwide order and
security.
Prihanto also noted that Kamra members did not sign a working
contract with the government when they joined to help the police
force. (02)