Police shift blame for Glodok raid

Police shift blame for Glodok raid

JAKARTA (JP): Top police officers blamed each other on Sunday
for the botched raid on sellers of illegal Video Compact Discs
(VCDs) in Glodok on Saturday which triggered widespread rioting
in the West Jakarta commercial district.

"The National Police Headquarters did not inform the city
police about the planned VCD raid. Our operational and control
forces were taken by surprise, when they heard about the raid,"
Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi said after a coordination
meeting with the capital's five precinct chiefs at city police
headquarters.

Unrest broke out in the district on Saturday morning after
police personnel raided street vendors selling VCDs. The raid
coincided with the second anniversary of the fatal shooting of
four Trisakti University students which caused mass unrest in
Jakarta and other major cities.

At least four shops in the Harco Glodok electronic goods
shopping center, several other stores and two car showrooms on
nearby Jl. Gadjah Mada and Jl. Hayam Wuruk were vandalized on
Saturday. Three police personnel were injured and 11 people were
arrested on suspicion of instigating the riot.

The unrest brought back painful memories of the looting and
arson in Jakarta in May 1998. Glodok, with mostly Chinese-
Indonesian enterprises, was hardest hit during the rioting.

The two-star general contended that even the West Jakarta
Police were unaware of the raid.

"The city police, which also includes the West Jakarta Police,
had no idea that the raid was going to be conducted," he said.

Officers at the National Police Headquarters strongly denied
Nurfaizi's statement, saying details of the raid were relayed to
city police headquarters.

"We contacted city police headquarters before we conducted the
raid, because they (city police) oversee the area," National
Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dadang Garnida told The Jakarta Post.

Col. Saleh Saaf of the National Police's information
department said the National Police officially informed the city
police one week before the raid.

"Usually, we notify the provincial police headquarters two or
three days before the raid. Since it was a major raid, we
notified them one week ahead of time."

Dadang said the National Police Headquarters would continue to
conduct periodic raids.

"The police will take stern measures against parties producing
or selling pirated VCDs. The riot was only a spillover from the
raid, in which the unrest was fomented by some irresponsible
people," he said.

Interviewed separately by the Post, social observer Sardjono
Jatiman and criminologist Adrianus Meliala said the rioting
reflected the deteriorating image of the police among the public,
including in discriminatory enforcement of the law.

"The street vendors dared to resist the police since they
believed the police only targeted them and excluded the producers
and key distributors," Sardjono said.

Adrianus said the police were unable to convey to the people
they were enforcing the law because they conducted operations
targeting particular groups in the past.

"The police have their own interests, either political or
economic, in their efforts to enforce the law. For example, they
will carry out raids if the distributors or producers don't pay
sufficient bribes to them."

Sardjono said the police should strive to improve their
tarnished image by demonstrating that upholding the law was the
basis of all their actions.

"The police must soon arrest the producers and the
distributors, and bring them to court. Then, the people will
trust them, and will heed their orders," he said.

Glodok remained quiet on Sunday as many store owners, fearing
a repeat of the unrest, kept their businesses shut.

However, street vendors in the area began to open their
stalls, but none of them sold VCDs. Most offered television
antennas and bags.

Curious visitors thronged into the business district to
inspect the remnants of the destruction, causing traffic
congestion along Jl. Hayam Wuruk.

In anticipation of more unrest, hundreds of police personnel
were deployed to the area. Police lines ringed the area, which
still bears the scars of the May 1998 riots.

Activities resumed in popular Gadjah Mada Plaza shopping mall,
including at McDonald's, which was among the buildings vandalized
on Saturday.

The unrest frightened some foreign tourists who opted to leave
the capital earlier than planned. Some left for Denpasar, Bali,
when they heard of the rioting.

"Why should I stay in Indonesia if riots continue to disturb
our vacation?" a woman identified as Cathy McCouhen, 24, was
quoted by Antara as saying.

However, it was not a repeat of the mass exodus which followed
the rioting two years ago.

"We found no increase in the number of passengers to the
airport," said a taxi driver at Soekarno-Hatta International
Airport, Agus Satibi.

Most Jakarta residents appeared to take the rioting in their
stride and continued to visit other parts of the city.

The raid did not prevent vendors of pirated VCDs from running
their business in neighboring Tangerang.

They offered the pirated VCDs along Jl. Malabar, Anyar market,
and Diamond and Robinson shopping centers.

In a separate development, hundreds of relatives of the
victims of the burning of Yogya Plaza in Klender, East Jakarta,
commemorated the May 1998 tragedy on Sunday with a film show and
public discussion. (41/edt/ylt/asa)