The Madiun incident
It happened around midnight in the East Java town of Madiun. Navy Second Lt. A.M. Jeremy, Army Second Lt. Azis and Police Second Lt. Tatit Muji Widodo, all out of uniform, were queuing up to buy gasoline at a gas station near the town square. Suddenly two military policemen riding a motorcycle arrived on the scene and, ignoring all the other vehicles that stood waiting their turn to have their tanks filled, cut right in front of the car in which the lieutenants were seated.
Clearly a breach both of basic good manners and of military discipline. But much worse was to follow. An argument between the three officers in civilian clothes and the two military policemen, who apparently belonged to the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) followed and soon turned into a brawl when a large number of members of the military battalion to which the latter belonged arrived on the scene to help the two military policemen.
Lt. Tatit fired a warning shot into the air to halt the melee, but that did not stop the fighting. One of the military policemen tried to grab Tatit's gun and was shot in the leg. The brawl led to an attack later that night by about 300 members of the Kostrad infantry battalion on a Madiun police station and three other police substations in the town. One traffic police post in the precinct was destroyed. Other buildings were also attacked and damaged, including the town's police hospital. Several police vehicles were destroyed and many police officers were injured in the attacks.
Yet another breach of discipline, and this time a most serious one, by people who have always been proud of holding themselves up as models of discipline for the nation to emulate. Three high school students, one 17 years old and the two others 18, died in the incident and the scars, in terms of relations between the military and the police, are sure to take some time to heal. Even more sadly, this is not the first time in recent months that squabbles between the military and the police have led to deadly shooting incidents. Recently, a similar shooting incident occurred in Irian Jaya between the two, and another one before that in Maluku.
This time around, however, the story has a somewhat brighter ending. While investigations on what precisely happened are underway, Kostrad's commander Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu has taken prompt and drastic steps to make sure that such a disgraceful incident does not happen again. He has discharged the chief of Kostrad's Airborne Infantry Battalion 501, Maj. Komistin Hadirin, and his deputy Maj. Nurcholid, who are being held responsible for the incident, as well as 20 members of the battalion, pending trial. Gen. Ryacudu was also prompt in making an apology to the public for the behavior of troops under his command.
The Indonesian public notes and appreciates the firm and prompt measures that Gen. Ryacudu has taken to instill greater discipline among his troops. It is still not completely clear to the public what exactly happened in Madiun that Saturday night. But if it should turn out that the police officers involved in the incident were also guilty of serious indiscipline, the police chief should have the courage to take some stern measures against them too.
The military and the police are entrusted by the public to carry arms to safeguard the country and to protect the public -- and certainly not to settle arguments between themselves.