Legislators call for a stop to mob violence

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)