Human rights commission supports war against hoodlums

Human rights commission supports war against hoodlums

JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights has
thrown its weight behind the nationwide operation against street
hoodlums, saying that the campaign is well-intentioned and
properly implemented.

The commission's chairman, Ali Said, said at a press
conference yesterday that security officers had been conducting
the operation in accordance with legal procedures.

He said commission members had visited hoodlums in custody at
the City Police Headquarters and the South Jakarta police
precinct. They have also interviewed street vendors and shop
owners at the Blok M shopping center in South Jakarta, he said.

"We have observed that there detainees have not been tortured
during the operation and they have been treated well during the
investigations," Ali said.

"Questioning of hoodlums is completed within a day," added the
retired lieutenant general and one-time justice minister and
chief justice.

He said the commission had observed that the operation was
widely supported, but particularly by street vendors, who are
easy prey for the dreaded thugs.

Ali did not, however, deny that excesses were possible, even
likely, in the conduct of the operation. "We can understand if
there are excesses in the operation, but we would like to urge
the authorities to minimize them," he said.

The operation against hoodlums began after the murder of a
police officer at Jakarta's Blok M shopping center last week. It
has received support from the army and various other
institutions, including the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.

Ali said that in Jakarta the operation had detained 3,436
suspected hoodlums as of Thursday. He said 3,182 of them had been
released due to the absence of evidence that they had broken the
law. The remaining 254 detainees are currently under
investigation at the City Police Headquarters.

The rights commission's secretary-general, Baharuddin Lopa,
said he could accept the police's statement that the current
campaign to wipe out street crime had not been prompted solely by
the murder of the police officer.

It is, rather, part of the long-time process of fighting
street violence, which has been a cause of public concern, he
added.

"Chief of the City Police, Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo, told me
that the operation against hoodlums was part of regular
operations against criminals," Lopa said, adding that the
operations included "Operation Cleansing" and the "Jaya
Operation" in Jakarta. (imn)