One dies in strike against forest looters

One dies in strike against forest looters

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Police operations to curb looting of teak
forests in Ngawi regency have resulted in one fatality, two
rubber bullet injuries and at least 115 arrests between Sept. 3
and Sept. 9.

Suparman Marzuki, the head of the legal aid consultancy at the
privately run Indonesian Islamic University, has alleged that the
operation, code-named Wana Semeru, had violated people's human
rights.

Security personnel involved in the operation included police
of the local mobile brigade, combat infantry and Air Force
special forces.

"The security apparatus' actions have exceeded those normally
taken in law enforcement," Suparman said here on Thursday, adding
that the villager who had died, 50-year-old Panut, had been in
police detention. His family was notified only two hours before
the police buried him without soliciting a postmortem
examination, he said.

The legal aid agency, representing residents of Beringin,
Kedung Rejo, Genengan and Nampu villages, plans to dispatch an
investigation team to collect information about alleged
violations.

"Security personnel, for instance, didn't arrest people caught
red-handed stealing teak wood, but took away people eating in
foodstalls or working their land," Suparman said.

Of the 115 people arrested, 82 have been released. The rest,
he said, were still in police custody.

He described the four villages as tense and quiet and said 250
residents had sought shelter at the local legislative council.

The economic crisis has prompted many incidents of looting and
rioting throughout the country. Recent incidents of unrest have
taken place in the East Java towns of Bondowoso and Situbondo, in
the Central Java towns of Kebumen, Cilacap and other remote areas
and in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak.

The situation in Kebumen has reportedly returned to normal
after mobs looted and burned dozens of shops, factories and other
buildings on Monday and Tuesday. Tension, however, has spread to
neighboring Gombong where rumors are rife that properties of
Chinese-Indonesians there would be attacked soon.

Kebumen residents have reported that truckloads of troops had
left the town for Gombong, some 30 kilometers away.

The rumors in Gombong started circulating after a fire gutted
the house of a Chinese-Indonesian resident and a mob burned down
another house. Shops in the town were closed on Thursday.

Kedu Police chief Col. Deddy Komaruddin, whose jurisdiction
covers Kebumen and Gombong, said extra security personnel were
being deployed to safeguard the town. "I will try very hard and
will cooperate with local people and leaders to prevent unrest,"
he promised.

Central Java Military Commander Maj. Gen. Tyasno Sudarto also
called on the public to exercise self restraint and not to be
easily provoked.

Antara reported that similar tension was pervasive in Pinrang
regency, South Sulawesi, after rumors started circulating that
the province's biggest rice supplier would be the target of
rioting if two local cooperatives suspected of running a scam
failed to return their customers' money by Sept. 15.

Parepare Police chief Col. Toto S. Suwali said local forces
and the populace had been warned to prepare for any possibility.
Police there, for instance, have launched an operation to
confiscate sharp weapons being carried by residents. (44/har/swe)