Kontras hand over guns used to intimidate protestors

JAKARTA (JP): The Committee for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) handed over on Thursday two guns allegedly used to intimidate local people in Lampung to National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro.

Kontras' advisory board member Munir said the pistols were seized recently from local thugs, who he said had used the guns to scare off residents staging a protest at a local palm plantation in the Banjar Agung district of the Tulang Bawang regency.

"The guns had been given to the thugs by police," Munir said.

According to Munir, thousands of locals during the Aug. 28 protest demanded that the plantation's owner return their land, which they claimed was taken without any compensation.

During the rally, Munir said, local thugs fired the guns to scare off the protesters. No injuries or fatalities were reported among the protesters.

However, angry locals beat one of the thugs to death and seized the guns, Munir said.

Munir, who personally handed the guns to the police during a meeting between police and 13 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the National Police Headquarters here, said that one of the guns was a Colt .38 and the other was unable to be identified because it had been badly broken.

"We just want to say that police still use violence to solve problems," Munir said, adding that recently in East Java, eight farmers have been killed by police personnel and several others injured in separate incidents in Lampung.

The meeting, which discussed police violence in several areas, was initially open to reporters.

However, dozens of reporters and news photographers were later asked to leave the meeting by the police.

"We would be embarrassed if reporters saw the meeting," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf told The Jakarta Post later in the evening.

Earlier before the meeting started, Saleh said that it was Kontras which did not want reporters to cover the meeting. But Munir denied Saleh's accusation.

Disappointed

Munir said that the NGOs attending the meeting were disappointed by police chief Bimantoro who showed a reluctance to accept criticism from the participating NGOs.

"We are very disappointed because the police invited us only to listen to a long speech from Bimantoro," Munir said, adding that there was a high level of tension between police and NGO members at the meeting.

Among the participating NGOs at the meeting were the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), the Indonesian Institute of Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) for Jakarta chapter, and the Association of Indonesian Women for Justice (LBH Apik).(jaw)