Mass rally planned today in support of anti-crime drive
Mass rally planned today in support of anti-crime drive
JAKARTA (JP): The public will simultaneously rally today at
each district military command across the greater Jakarta to
express their support for Operation Cleansing.
"The planned rally clearly shows the overwhelming enthusiasm
on the part of the public to join forces with the police in
waging a war against crime," Brig. Gen. Wiranto, chief of the
staff of the Jakarta military command said Thursday at the
"Coffee Morning" party at the Jakarta military headquarters.
Wiranto was quoted by Antara as saying that the rally could
help deter criminals from resuming their acts since all walks of
life have been orchestrated to fight them.
On the same occasion, Col. E. Sutarto, Operational Assistant
at the Jakarta Military Command, said the city branch of the
Agency for Coordinating the Support for National Stability,
sponsor of the operation, would circulate stickers containing the
pager numbers of members of the operation squad in case that the
public need quick help against criminals.
The stickers would be put up at telephone booths, he said.
"This way the public will easily know the numbers of patrolmen
to be contacted," said Sutarto.
Hendro
Earlier, Maj. Gen. Hendropriyono, the Jakarta military
commander, said the response from the public to the report-by-
pager scheme remained underwhelming.
Hendro has increased the number of motorbike patrolmen to
1,000 from the initial 100.
The anti-crime Operasi Bersih aims at cracking down on crimes
as they happen and preventing them.
initially the operation was better known as an operation
launched against illegal sales of alcoholic drinks due to its
aggressive campaign against drink and drunkards. So far more than
a half million bottles of liquor have been confiscated and around
500 drunks captured.
In a related development, Arman Rachman Iskandar, chairman of
the Jakarta chapter of the PHRI (Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant
Association) told the Jakarta Post yesterday the businesses which
joined the association were not at all affected by the operation
crackdown on liquor.
"The liquor the hotels and restaurants of the PHRI sell are
imported. It is authorized by the government," said Arman, adding
that all liquor confiscated by the operation was locally made.
Arman said currently there are 299 hotels and restaurants
registered as members of the association. "This mean 70 percent
of hotels and restaurants across Jakarta have become members of
the PHRI."(jsk)