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)