Operation against 'preman' questionable: Lawyer

JAKARTA (JP): A professor of law at Airlangga University, Surabaya, questioned yesterday the legal basis for the continuing police and military operation against suspected street hoodlums, known locally as preman.

"Is there any solid legal base for arresting anyone suspected of being a preman?" asked Professor J.E. Sahetapy.

He said that, while police were entitled to presume guilt rather than innocence, it was illegal to arrest people without some evidential basis.

"Therefore, the operation against the preman is questionable," Sahetapy told a seminar on preman and their problems, adding that the criteria employed in police and army decisions to release the detainees were also unclear.

Police data show that only 17.12 percent of the suspected preman arrested were brought before a court, while 6.45 percent were forced, without trial, to attend training courses. The remaining 76.42 percent were released after varying periods of detention.

The professor also questioned the involvement of army personnel in the operation. "If the police are capable of tackling preman, why is another organization involved?" he asked.

Police and the military began a massive operation against suspected preman after a group of street hoodlums attacked two police officers in Blok M, South Jakarta, in March. One of the officers died of a stab wound to his abdomen.

During the first two months of the operation, police arrested 14,349 people suspected of being street hoodlums. Of those, 2,457 were brought to trial on various charges. Without being tried, 568 were sent to training courses at the city's military headquarters, 228 were forced to undergo training by city police, 130 were sent to the Al-Wasyilah Islamic boarding school and 10,966 were eventually released.

City Police chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said that all the agencies which constituted the criminal justice system had agreed with the city police's campaign against suspected preman.

Consistent law enforcement against hoodlums, Widodo said, would give security to the people. He added that the legal approach was only one among several courses of action because, he said, many other factors were involved in the preman problem.

The growth in the number of preman was, he said, the result of at least three factors: family situation, education, and social conditions.

He said that most preman came from poor families and were unable to get a good education. Because of their low level of education, he said, they were unable to find good jobs. At the same time, he continued, the preman have to make money to satisfy their needs.

He said social conditions, such as the lack of job opportunities, social gap, media portrayal of violence and the development of a permissive society had also tended to encourage young people to become preman.

Widodo called on the public to participate in dealing with the preman problem, calling it "the collective responsibility of the people, security officers and related government agencies." (29)