Two students arrested for allegedly abducting officer

JAKARTA (JP): Police detectives arrested two Indonesian Christian University (UKI) students on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the abduction of a police officer during a student protest.

Head of the city police detective unit, Col. Gories Mere, confirmed the arrests at the students' homes, adding that the two had already been named as suspects.

He said that the police are still attempting to locate two other suspects in the case.

Police identified the arrested students as Rudi Pahala Siburian, a student at the UKI Law School, and Edward Karo, a student at the School of Economics.

"Yes, we arrested them this morning for questioning. We arrested them instead of summoning them for questioning, because they have ignored our summons," Gories told reporters.

Rudi, 27, was picked up by at least 20 plainclothes officers at his house in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, while Edward was arrested in the Cawang area of East Jakarta.

"We used proper procedures," city police spokesman Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang said.

Rudi and Edward, along with the two others, are accused of kidnapping Maj. Sgt. Suratman of the South Jakarta police identification unit, during a protest organized by students of the City Forum on Nov. 29 in front of the Jakarta Police Headquarters.

Separately, Munir, from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, alleged that the way the police arrested the students was against formal procedure.

"If they wanted to obtain information from the students, they should have seized them formally in line with legal procedure," Munir said at a media briefing.

He also urged the police to stop using what he called a 'policy of terror' in dealing with cases involving students.

"The police want to show their force by displaying guns. Their method could be classified as a policy of terror. They (the police) were not wearing uniforms, but they were carrying weapons and they refused to reveal their identity," he said.

"By applying such methods, the police have shown that they do not have good will in solving an ordinary criminal offense," he said.

Munir's colleague, Daniel Panjaitan, said that a team of lawyers had visited the students at the city police headquarters at 8:30 a.m.

The students asked the team to serve as their legal advisers, he said.

Meanwhile, at least 500 students staged a protest in front of the main entrance gate of the city police headquarters, demanding that the police immediately release their friends.

Students unfurled a big black banner which read, "Return our friends" and posters reading, "Military and police are abductors," "Noegroho (city police chief) and Prabowo (former commander of the Army Strategic Reserves Command) are kidnappers."

Lt. Col. Bambang K of the police public guidance unit negotiated with the students, who finally agreed to leave the site as soon as police brought Rudi and Edward to the headquarters' gate so that the students could see that the two were unharmed. (edt/ivy/emf)