NGOs report Governor supporters to police
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Dozens of non-governmental organizations on Thursday filed complaints with the police against Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's supporters, who violently attacked activists and demonstrators during an anti-Sutiyoso rally in front of City Hall the previous day.
They demanded the police investigate the case involving about 300 members of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR), who attacked activists and flood victims as they were demonstrating in support of a class action suit against the President, the Jakarta governor and the West Java governor.
More than 30 NGOs have filed a class action suit against the government for its failure to control the recent floods.
They plaintiffs include Indonesian Corruption Watch, the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law, the Urban Poverty Consortium, The Indonesian Forum for the Environment, the Jakarta Becak (motorized pedicab) Association, and the Indonesian Consumers Foundation.
The violence occurred as dozens of activists were staging a rally and collecting signatures on a 1,000 meter-long banner in support of their legal action.
"This is a violation of human rights," the NGOs said in a statement before filing their complaints with the police.
During the incident, the FBR members used sticks and offensive weapons like machetes to disperse the protesters. They also beat some of them, and pulled the hair of a female activist.
The FBR members circulated statements praising Sutiyoso's actions to help the flood victims, and threatened the activists and other demonstrators if they continued their protests against the governor.
Urban Poverty Consortium chairwoman Wardah Hafidz said that the violence was a countermove by the authorities, which could not tolerate the people trying to bring them to justice.
In their statements, the NGOs demanded on Thursday that the Jakarta administration and the Jakarta Police be held responsible for the violence, which they claimed was also a violation of Law No. 9/1999 on freedom of speech.
They also expressed their concerns that the police did not take action against FBR members who were carrying offensive weapons in a public place.
Sutiyoso denied on Thursday that he was behind the action by the FBR, claiming that he knew nothing about the attack. He also accused the NGOs of always "finding fault" with him.
"These NGOs will blame me even if I only whistle. Even if there is a movement or an attempt to defend me, they point their fingers at me. There's only six months left before I leave (office). What's the use of organizing such an action," said Sutiyoso, whose term of office ends in October.
The governor had previously claimed to have no ambition to be reelected, but he later retracted his statement, saying that he would not mind being nominated for a second term.
Sutiyoso also said he regretted the class action suit filed by the flood victims, accusing the NGOs of using the victims for their own interests.
"What makes me concerned is that they (the NGO activists) have involved people who aren't aware that their activities may only be for the interests of their group," Sutiyoso said.
A total of 15 flood-victim class representatives from all over the capital on Wednesday filed their suit with the Central Jakarta District Court.
One of the 15 plaintiffs lost a family member in the floods.
A total of 32 lawyers will represent the plaintiffs, who are demanding more than Rp 2.7 billion in compensation from the three officials over losses occasioned by the floods. The plaintiffs claim that the accuseds failed to take adequate measures to anticipate the natural disaster.
Sutiyoso said that his administration would employ a team of lawyers to defend him.