Hundreds netted in crackdown on hoodlums
Hundreds netted in crackdown on hoodlums
JAKARTA (JP): Top government officials made the most of strong public support yesterday to take a major stride in their national campaign to eradicate street hooliganism and restore the public's sense of security.
Security forces in several major cities in Java rounded up hundreds of alleged thugs, confiscating liquor and weapons which have allegedly been used for criminal purposes.
The operation against hoodlums began after the murder of a police officer in Jakarta's Blok M shopping center last week. The campaign has received qualified support from the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. R. Hartono, Attorney General Singgih, Chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council Sudomo, and Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman have all said, separately, that no hoodlums should be spared.
Hartono, speaking in the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, said that any army officers who gave protection to street hoodlums would be severely punished.
"ABRI (the Armed Forces) leaders will not hesitate to fire any of its members who provide support to street hoodlums," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
Meanwhile, police in Bandung, West Java, announced yesterday that out of more than 300 suspected thugs they have arrested over the past four days, two are ABRI members.
Attorney General Singgih said that besides the current, ongoing operation, the government should also seek other remedies to the problem of street violence.
"The government should find out the root of the problem because repressive measures such as this operation will not, on their own, be sufficient to solve it," he said, after opening a three-day conference on crime.
He said that social ills like unemployment and the widening gulf between the rich and the poor are major factors in the growth of street violence.
The problem is made worse by the actions of individual officials and security officers who provide the hoodlums with support, he added.
Unemployment
According to Admiral (ret) Sudomo, the root cause of the problem is the high rate of unemployment.
"The government and the private sector must be able to create jobs," Sudomo said recently at an Idul Fitri gathering at his office.
Sudomo, a one-time chief of the powerful internal security agency (Kopkamtib), said that in combating street crime the government should not act like a fire brigade; acting only after the event.
Justice Minister Oetojo Oesman attributed street crime to problems flowing from the swelling populations of urban centers.
Limited job opportunities in the cities has forced many people to turn to crime in order to survive, he said after opening a seminar on the Marrakesh Agreement and its implications for Indonesian law.
The director of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, Luhut M.P. Pangaribuan stressed that action taken against the hoodlums must always be in accordance with the law.
"The court of justice should play the dominant role in efforts to eliminate street gangs," Luhut said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post.
"We don't need to revive Petrus; we need to uphold the law," Sudomo said. Petrus was the systematic shooting of criminals in the early 1980s.
Meanwhile, in Yogyakarta, the City Police announced yesterday that they had caught 36 suspected hoodlums during a dawn raid on Sunday.
"The police raid was part of the nationwide cleansing operation to eliminate hoodlums," Chief of the Crime Investigation Unit of the City Police, Capt. Suko Hariyanto, said. (imn/29/pet)