Sutiyoso defends govt's civilian militia plan

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso urged Jakartans on Monday not condemn out of hand the government's plan to set up a 40,000- member civilian militia to support security forces in the maintenance of law and order.

The civilians would be "selectively" recruited under the Rakyat Terlatih (trained civilians) or Ratih scheme and required to take a two-week advanced military training course before starting work, the governor told reporters.

"I personally feel that people in this capital should not worry about it," Sutiyoso said.

Jakartans, he added, should know that "the city has a limited number of security personnel to protect the entire capital, particularly for the coming general election (due in June)."

Therefore, "as long as each member of the civilian militia can properly utilize the power given to them, Jakartans have nothing to fear about the presence of Ratih," the governor said.

He stressed Jakarta residents should not dwell on the problems caused by the presence of hundreds of untrained civilians assigned to help secure last month's Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly.

"That was an experience and we learn from our experiences. There is no need to let them traumatize us," the governor said.

He said he still had no idea about the size of the civilian militia force to be deployed in the capital.

"We're not aware of the (central government's) arrangements for the general election here and how many people will be required to be deployed in the city's crime black spots," Sutiyoso said.

Next steps

He added the city administration would eventually be informed about the government's next steps on the Ratih scheme from the minister of home affairs.

On Sunday, Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto insisted that ABRI was forging ahead with its plan to set up Ratih to secure disturbance-prone areas across the country to help the police, which is understaffed.

Wiranto added that the militia would have legal legitimacy and be authorized to make arrests, handcuff those they detain and report them to the authorities.

Greater Jakarta, including Bekasi, Tangerang and Depok, home to about 13.3 million people, has a police force of only 18,000 personnel.

When contacted on Monday, Jakarta Police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said the Ratih scheme was not the city police's business.

"Don't ask me, ask the ABRI commander directly," Aritonang said, referring to Gen. Wiranto.

Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djadja Suparman, who was asked by reporters to comment on the issue after meeting with Sutiyoso at the latter's office on Monday, said that Ratih was still an "idea being worked on."

"Please do not try and make a big fuss over something that has not been finalized yet," Djadja said. (ylt/emf)