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)