Police beaten up in protest

The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Following the stepping down of president Soeharto in May 1998, people in many regions around the country have held protests demanding that their areas be upgraded into provinces, regencies, districts and subdistricts.

What happened in Tangerang, Banten on Monday was, however, just the opposite -- thousands of residents from four villages protested in front of the Tangerang Regency Legislative Council against the conversion of their area into a subdistrict.

While the people protested outside the compound, Tangerang councillors held a plenary meeting to approve a draft bylaw on the status change of 77 villages in the regency into several subdistricts.

The protesters mostly came from four villages -- Salembaran Jaya, Dadap, Bundar and Kelapa Dua.

Why the residents opposed the move to upgrade their villages into a subdistrict was unclear, but some speculated that they were mobilized by village heads who fear that turning their areas into one subdistrict would force them to lose their posts.

Villages heads are directly elected by the people, while subdistrict heads are civil servants appointed by regents.

During Monday's protest, local police detective chief Adj. Comr. Kusnanto, who was trying to appease the angry protesters, was attacked and beaten up by the mob. He sustained serious head wounds.

The protesters also damaged a number of vehicles parked in Tiga Raksa office complex of Tangerang regency.

So far, police have arrested seven protesters from Dadap and Selembaran Java villages.

The protest turned violent when the protesters tried to enter the council building guarded by hundreds of police officers.

When Salembaran Jaya village head Jayusman came out of the council building, some protesters chased after him and threw stones at him. He, however, escaped from the mob and quickly got into his car and sped away.

Witnessing the situation, Kusnanto tried to calm the protesters, but the angry mob beat him up. That prompted police officers guarding the council building to fire warning shots, which effectively dispersed them.

In the meantime, Tangerang councillors delayed the endorsement of the draft bylaw indefinitely on Monday. No reason was given for the decision.