Military ready to put hoodlums out of business

JAKARTA (JP): City Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djadja Suparman said soldiers were ready to assist the police and city administration in getting rid of hoodlums in the city, whose existence is frightening residents.

"We will back up their plan to get the hoodlums in order. But I disagreed with the stated elimination or termination of hoodlums," Djadja said after a post-Idul Fitri gathering with journalists in the command headquarters on Friday night.

He said the elimination of hoodlums would be almost impossible.

He said he believed hoodlums could be changed into good people if they were given advice, training and discipline.

If required, the military command would cooperate with police and city administration to organize a training course for the hoodlums, he said.

Commenting on the violence at Kampung Rambutan bus terminal, in which where two people were killed on Wednesday night, Djadja asked the press not to relate the incident to ethnic issues.

"I find that the press frequently links many cases of unrest, including that at Kampung Rambutan, with sensitive issues of tribal affiliations, religion, race and societal groups. Is it good for us?" he said.

The Kampung Rambutan incident, which quickly became a full scale brawl, was believed have been a clash between people from North Sumatra (known as Batak) and West Java (known as Sunda).

Asked whether the recent cases of violence were provoked by certain groups, Djadja refused to comment. But he urged the press not to blow up the issue of alleged provocateurs.

"The media could be a provocateur as well if it influences people to be angry and violent," the two-star general said.

He said that the command's intelligence department was still working hard to bring to light certain people suspected of provoking recent riots.

He confirmed that the command had questioned a youth leader over a report that he was involved in a series of unrests.

"However, the youth leader strongly denied the accusation," Djadja said, urging the public to give information to the military command if they had information about any possible impending unrest.

"The intelligence posts at our military compounds are still open to information from the public," he said. (jun)