Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo denies kidnapping allegations in Aceh

Lt. Gen. Rusdihardjo denies kidnapping allegations in Aceh

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): National Police chief Lt. Gen.
Rusdihardjo strongly denied allegations that his men based in
Aceh kidnapped innocent civilians as has been recently alleged by
some families to the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims
of Violence (Kontras).

"It's impossible for a policeman to conduct an abduction. I
have never seen or heard about a kidnapping by members of the
police under my control," he said after closing a course for
tourism police at the Bali Police Headquarters on Thursday.

Rusdihardjo said he believed that what had really happened was
that police arrested some people for certain legal reasons, but
their relatives claimed they were kidnapped.

"This was made possible because the officers did not show any
warrants before arresting any one. A warrant is a must unless it
is in a state of emergency," he said.

The second possibility was that the relatives of the detainees
didn't know where their relatives were being detained. "Those
arrested by the officers might be detained at police sub-
precincts, precincts or the provincial police headquarters."

A group of Aceh residents met with Kontras officials and told
them of their missing relatives. They said their relatives
"disappeared" after policemen searched villagers' homes in Aceh
in an effort to find members of the separatist movement.

"Such allegations must be clarified. People cannot just report
the disappearance of their relatives and then accuse policemen of
having kidnapped them without clarification," Rusdihardjo said.

Rusdihardjo also said that Indonesian tourism police had
failed to carry out their job.

The officers had done a good job of "securing" tourists. "The
result, however, was that the tourists felt they were being spied
on," he said.

The tourism police unit was set up in the 1980s.

"We don't want to make similar mistakes," he said, stressing
that such a course, involving some 100 officers from all parts of
the country, was essential.

Rusdihardjo donated three cars and 12 motorcycles for the Bali
tourism police. (zen/sur)