Police get slap on wrists over Manggarai shooting
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang
A police disciplinary committee in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, imposed light sanctions Monday on two mid-ranking officers for their roles in a shooting incident last March on Flores island that killed six people.
The committee, however, exonerated intelligence unit chief First Insp. I Made Andhika, a mid-ranking police officer in Manggarai regency, Flores, of all charges.
East Nusa Tenggara Police spokesman First Insp. C. Waton said the two officers who were punished were the Manggarai Police's chief of operations, Adj. Comr. Zainuddin, and operation guidance head Second Insp. I Wayan Bayu.
The two were only given written reprimands and are banned from taking part in police training courses for six months, Waton added.
"The two mid-ranking officers have been found guilty of negligence in the performance of their duties, so they have been sanction in accordance with Article 4 of Government Regulation No. 3/2003 on police discipline," he explained.
The same committee had earlier ordered the dismissal of Manggarai Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Boni Tompoi for failing to prevent the incident on March 11.
Hearings involving 19 junior police officers continued on Tuesday and the committee, presided over by East Nusa Tenggara deputy police chief, Sr. Comr. Arthur Damanik, is scheduled to hand down its decisions on their cases on Wednesday.
The committee began hearing charges on May 13 against the four mid-ranking and 19 junior police officers.
All 23 police personnel were accused of violating the government regulation on police discipline.
East Nusa Tenggara Police last week said the officers would face various penalties in line with the gravity of their offenses, including written reprimands, one-year promotion delays, the postponing of regular salary increases, demotions and, the severest punishment, 21 days imprisonment.
The Manggarai shootings occurred after local regent Anton Bagul Dagur ordered his subordinates to fell thousands of coffee trees in plantations belonging to local people in Colol village early in March.
There were few villagers in the area when public order officers and police personnel arrived and began cutting down the trees. The residents, who insisted that the area was ancestral land, put up resistance, but were arrested and detained at Manggarai police station.
The following day, some 400 residents arrived at the police office to protest against the arrest of their neighbors. The demonstration turned ugly when the police refused to release the detainees, with the angry crowd attacking police personnel.
In retaliation, officers fired on the crowd, killing six people and seriously injuring 28 others.
Last month, a National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) team visited Manggarai to investigate alleged human rights abuses during the melee.
However, the team has yet to announce the results of its probe.