The Madiun incident
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.