Thirty PP members charged

Thirty PP members charged

JAKARTA (JP): City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said
yesterday 26 more members of Pemuda Pancasila (PP) have been
charged with vandalism, bringing the total to 30.

Hamami said the case would be processed according to the law.

The West Jakarta police precinct had announced Monday that
only four of those questioned about the vandalizing of five
billiard centers in the Duta Mas complex, Grogol, West Jakarta,
were suspects.

Hamami said the questioning had run smoothly and no outsiders
had tried to interfere.

The attacks on the complex by at least 60 people, wearing PP's
black-and-red-striped military-style uniforms, happened Sunday
afternoon.

The group from PP's Jelambar, West Jakarta, branch was led by
Zainal Arifin Lubis. Antara reported that the group had asked a
private television station to cover the raids.

Lubis said the raids were in line with the people's wish to
eliminate gambling. PP members in particular felt very strongly
about it, he said.

He said the local authorities were not warned about the
planned raids.

According to City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Aritonang, the
suspects said the raid was not coordinated by PP's central board
of executives.

Aritonang said the police did not condone arbitrary and
destructive action. "We welcome the public's participation in
helping the police fight crime. But that does not mean they can
be violent," Aritonang said.

City Military Chief of Staff Brig. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoedin
said Monday that PP was not authorized to raid the complex.

Separately, Maulana Isman, chairman of the Indonesian National
Youth Committee (KNPI), said yesterday that KNPI was against any
arbitrary action.

KNPI would not let this happen, he was quoted by Antara as
saying at President Soeharto's residence on Jl. Cendana.

"We will ask PP's executive boards about the incident,"
Maulana said.

PP and KNPI are influential youth organizations affiliated to
the dominant Golkar. (sur)