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