Mid-rank officer files suit against Bimantoro
Mid-rank officer files suit against Bimantoro
JAKARTA (JP): Sr. Comr. Alfons Loemau filed a lawsuit on
Monday against National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro,
disputing his arrest and detention by the National Police on
charges of insubordination.
The suit was registered at the South Jakarta District Court by
his lawyers, Irvan Melayu and Irianto Subiakto.
The lawyers argued that procedures police employed in the
detention and questioning of Alfons and seven other mid-ranking
police officers were incorrect.
They contended that the National Police could not charge the
eight police officers for breaching articles under the military
criminal code relating to abuse of power.
Based on People's Consultative Assembly decree No.
VII/MPR/2000, the National Police must now abide by civilian laws
and regulations, and not military rules.
Therefore, any violations by police officers should be brought
before a civil court and not a military tribunal, they said.
They also questioned the arrest ordered by the National Police
chief when the alleged crime had not actually been committed.
Unlike other officers who responded to the summons for
questioning over the alleged insubordination, Alfons failed to
appear and was declared a fugitive.
He was finally apprehended at his home in Pondok Karya police
housing complex, South Jakarta.
All officers are currently being detained by the National
Police.
They have been charged with staging a revolt against the
National Police chief on July 9, when dozens of mid-ranking
officers gathered at National Police Headquarters and discussed
Bimantoro's defiant stance against then President Abdurrahman
Wahid.
The officers had declared Bimantoro disobedient and demanded
that he comply with presidential orders issued by Abdurrahman,
which ordered him to vacate his post.
In an interview with Tempo magazine, Alfons charged that it
was Bimantoro who started the insubordination against his
superior, then President Abdurrahman.
"That insubordination caused a moral movement among middle-
ranking officers for the first time on July 9," Alfons said. (06)