How to stop the violence

How to stop the violence

From Suara Karya

Disarming former president Soeharto's bodyguards at the behest
of President Abdurrahman Wahid is going too far, especially if
the decision to do so is related to the bomb blasts that have
occurred in several parts of Indonesia. The order to disarm
should have been directed to members of the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM), the groups involved in the Poso and Maluku clashes, and
Irian Jaya's "security-disturbing" gangs. Their actions are
evident and the victims of their actions are also evident.

The formulae advanced for stopping all of this look
deceptively easy. Instead, we should give the police a definite
legal umbrella to allow them to move one step ahead of the
terrorists by, among other things, enacting the National Security
Bill into law.

There must be a procedural system and mechanism governing
requests for military assistance. Who can determine the level of
threat escalation and riots in a region: the police alone or the
regional administration's chief executive in conjunction with the
regional legislative council? Never let us repeat the Poso
failure where military assistance was only requested after
everything had been destroyed.

If the military and the police are left without a clear legal
instrument, they can't even arrest someone standing in front of a
car with a stone in his hand before he breaks the car window.
This is exactly what is happening now. It is only after the bomb
has gone off that the police begin to take action.

ANDI KUSTRIANDI

Jakarta