No special action against hoodlums

No special action against hoodlums

JAKARTA (JP): Acting Jakarta governor Abdul Kahfi said on
Thursday the city was not carrying out a special operation
against hoodlums.

The city administration is performing a standard public order
operation, he stated.

"There is no such gubernatorial decree on an operation against
hoodlums," Kahfi, who is deputy governor for administrative
affairs, said.

He said the administration would continue to concentrate its
operation against street vendors operating on sidewalks and
disturbing public order.

Any operation against hoodlums, known as preman, will be led
by the city police, he said.

"So what we are doing is not a special operation. It is the
same operation we have been carrying out," Kahfi reiterated.

He said the public order operation, which began on Monday and
will last until December, would focus on street traders and the
hoodlums believed to back the traders.

He said Rp 30 billion (US$3 million) had been allocated from
the 2001 city budget for the public order operation.

At least 2,800 public order officers, including 1,900 newly
installed civilian police auxiliaries, will take part in the
operation.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman said earlier
the police would deploy 800 officers to assist public order
officers during the operation.

The city administration has proposed that officers taking part
in the operation receive between Rp 15,000 and Rp 25,000 a day,
meaning that the nine-month operation will cost between Rp 12
billion and Rp 24 billion.

Kahfi said that during a meeting of city officials on
Thursday, it had been decided the officers would be paid Rp
15,000 a day.

"It is the same amount they received in an earlier operation
in January," he added.

Responding to criticism from city councillors that it would be
difficult to control the spending for the operation, Kahfi said
there were several parties capable of controlling spending.

"The City Council, the city inspectorate and the public,
including the press, can control the use of the funds," he
remarked.

He questioned the councillors' criticism since the Rp 30
billion for the public order operation was approved by the
council.

Councillor Posman Siahaan of the Justice and Unity Party
wondered if the mechanisms were in place to control the costs of
the operation.

"How can we know that on a certain day a certain number of
officers are deployed for certain operations and spend a certain
amount of money," Posman asked.

He also said the operation should not focus on people who have
little money and are simply trying to earn enough money to
survive.

"I would agree if the operation was conducted against hoodlums
who are rich and are still extorting money," he said.

Hundreds of street vendors, mostly Madurese, operating around
the National Monument park were involved in clashes with public
order officers on Wednesday.

At least eight people, both vendors and officers, were injured
and five vendors arrested.

Central Jakarta secretary Effendy Rustam said on Thursday the
vendors already had been tried and fined between Rp 10,000 and Rp
50,000.

"If they reopen their businesses in the park we will arrest
them again and again," he said following the meeting on Thursday.
(jun)