Policeman gets the axe after militant Muslim raid
Policeman gets the axe after militant Muslim raid
Blontank Poerwoko, The Jakarta Post, Surakarta
A middle-ranking police officer here was removed from his post on
Wednesday, a day after Muslim hard-liners raided at least two
local restaurants and destroyed hundreds of bottles of alcoholic
beverages.
The dismissal of Adj. Comr. Zaenal Arifin was for his failure
to prevent the Muslim extremists from taking the law into their
own hands, said a top Surakarta police officer. Zaenal is
believed to be the first police officer in the country to receive
such stiff punishment for failing to prevent an attack of this
type during Ramadhan.
The police officer was also found guilty of "allowing" the
restaurants to sell alcohol during Ramadhan, said Zaenal's
superior Sr. Comr. Abdul Madjid, the chief of the Surakarta
police.
The report of the incident apparently angered the Central Java
police chief Insp. Gen. Chaerul Rasjid. Stunned by the vandalism
during the holy month, General Chaerul reportedly briefed all
local police chiefs in the province on Wednesday and told them
that the incident in Surakarta had to be the last.
"If a police officer fails to follow orders, I'm telling you
that he or she has to be replaced," declared the two-star police
general.
Separately, Zaenal, the Grogol police chief, confirmed he was
not near the restaurants on Jl. Langenharjo in Surakarta when
about 50 hard-liners calling themselves the Coalition of the
Surakarta Muslim Community raided and attacked the restaurants.
However, he argued that he was on his way there when the incident
erupted. "I had almost reached the street when one of my
superiors prevented me from going for fear of fatalities. He told
me the number of protesters was quite large," said Zaenal. At
least four people were injured and two restaurants were damaged
after the attack on Monday night by a number of groups, including
the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).
In a separate development, General Chaerul deplored the attack
and ordered his men to hunt down and bring to justice all
perpetrators in the attacks.
"The police have often called on people not to take the law into
their own hands. We regret that this has not been heeded," said
Chaerul, as quoted by Antara news agency.
Chaerul's stance may indicate that police plan to get tougher
on extremist Muslim groups, which have in recent years taken to
raiding restaurants and cafes during Ramadhan with seeming
impunity. Such attacks, which usually involve lots of bottle
smashing, have so far been neglected by police at the expense of
cafe owners and workers. However, this year, the police force,
under the national leadership of Gen. Sutanto has shown an
uncompromising posture against the religious vigilantes. Another
example of the police force's uncompromising stance was
demonstrated on Tuesday, when eight members of the FPI were
arrested by West Jakarta police for weapons possession during a
rally held in front of the police headquarters. The FPI members
were protesting what they deemed to be an overly slow
investigation into a clash on Sunday between themselves and
residents of Kalijodo in West Jakarta, a red-light district, in
which a handful of FPI men were injured.