JP/3/Rally/12 MB
Golkar youngsters vow to participate in Operation Cleansing
JAKARTA (JP): Youth organizations affiliated with the ruling Golkar pledged at a rally yesterday to back up the ongoing Operation Cleansing.
"I am very proud of your pledges. With your participation, I believe Jakarta will become the most secure city in the world in the near future," Maj. Gen. Hendroprijono, Jakarta Military Commander, told the rally's participants.
The rally, held yesterday at the Persija soccer stadium in Menteng, Central Jakarta, was attended by around 10,000 members of a dozen youth organizations affiliated with the ruling Golkar, almost all city councilors of the Golkar faction and some ranking officers from the City Police Headquarters.
The organizations include AMPI, FKPPI, Pemuda Panca Marga, Pemuda Pancasila, Generasi Muda KOSGORO, Gerakan Mahasiswa KOSGORO, Gema MKGR, Fokusmaker, Wirakarya Indonesia, Generasi Muda GAKARI, GEMABUDHI, Generasi Muda KARPEM, WARGA JAYA, Al Idrisyah, Baladika Karya, LDII, Mapancas, IKBA-FKPJ, and Banten martial artists.
The youths, in their signature military fatigues, gave blood curdling shouts from time to time.
"This rally is not only a political gesture, but an expression of anti-crime commitment by some militant groups of the society," said the two-star army general popularly known as Hendro, who returned quickly to his car after his brief speech.
In the written oaths read by Selamat Limbong of the AMPI in front of Tadjus Sobirin, chief of the Golkar's Jakarta chapter, and Hendro, the youth said they would back up the anti-crime efforts currently sponsored by the army, and would show examples of good behavior.
Lt. Col. Didi Supandi, spokesman for the Jakarta military command, told reporters that the army was still studying the kinds of participation the organizations would have in Operation Cleansing.
Informants
Arie Putra Bintana, a city councilor who also served as a member of consultative board for the FKPPI, said the youths could help the campaign by being police informants and by persuading the delinquent youngsters of their neighbors to forsake their path.
"So the operation is still run by the military. We just back them up," said Arie.
Operation Cleansing, which started on April 11, involves 16,700 personnel from the army, navy, air force and police force. Including the volunteer youngsters, Hendro recently said, the strength of the operation has tripled.
After more than two weeks of operations, the city looks to be more secure, with busy streets now deserted in the evenings and gatherings of drunkards at night diminished.
In the first ten days, the operation captured around 500 criminals and drunkards, 40,000 bottles of spirits, five firearms, and hundreds of sharp weapons.
Separate from the operation, the police have also seized more than 100,000 bottles of spirits. (jsk)