Legislators call for a stop to mob violence
JAKARTA (JP): Legislators urged the government yesterday to find a solution to stop riots, saying that the enduring and unsolved problems in society are contributing causes to public violence.
Maj. Gen. Syamsudin, deputy chairman of the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction at the House of Representatives (DPR) and Abu Hasan Sazili of the ruling Golkar faction, asserted that only by knowing all the motives of mob violence could authorities find a solution to stop the chaos.
"It will be difficult to find a solution when the major causes of the disorder have not been ascertained," said Syamsudin.
He believed that there was some kind of burden which the people found hard to carry, making them easily provoked.
Syamsudin said that the riots which occurred during football competitions or music performances, for instance, simply indicated that there were problems among the people which needed to be overcome.
"But don't hastily make the accusation that the riots were caused by a group carrying out a premeditated act," he told Antara news agency.
Referring to the Medan incident, Sazili, who is also deputy chairman of DPR Commission I (for defense, security, foreign affairs and information), said that the riots were initiated by certain organizations which intended to stage a strike but were unable to organize such a massive action.
Such a situation, he said, has been abused by several parties to create violence. He added that the organizations which initiated the strike should be held responsible.
Sazili said that he supported the Medan military command's decision to anticipate and handle the riots. "Clearly, we don't want to sacrifice the national unity to fulfill the interest of certain parties," he said.
Employers
Meanwhile, Clementino Dos Reis Amaral, a member of the National Human Rights Committee, said that the authorities could not put the whole blame on the workers. He said that employers should also be scrutinized to find out whether they had fulfilled their obligations.
The two-day riots, which occurred last week, was participated in by more than 10,000 workers. They left one man beaten to death, several shop owners beaten, 12 demonstrators injured, 150 shops ransacked or looted and 12 cars set ablaze.
The dead man has been identified as a local businessman named July Kristanto, also known as Kwok Joe Lip.
The workers were enraged by the mysterious death of a worker after a strike last month. The 22-year-old Rusli was found floating dead in the Deli river on March 11.
The workers also demanded improvements in their wages, an end to military intervention in labor disputes and official recognition of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), which has been set up to challenge the government-sanctioned Indonesian Labor Union (SPSI). (par)