Wiranto defends security volunteers

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto justified the use of civilian security guards on Wednesday and said they would not have been recruited if there had not been threats to disrupt the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"They wouldn't have been recruited had there been no threat to the session," Wiranto said before attending the Assembly's second plenary session.

Wiranto was speaking about the much-criticized presence of thousands of volunteers who patrolled the city in trucks on Tuesday, many of whom were armed with bamboo spears and other weapons, including swords. They were seen yelling insults and throwing rocks at student protesters, hitting civilians on several occasions.

However, Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman on Wednesday pledged to pull all civilian security volunteers away from the vicinity of the Assembly building.

"We will take the volunteers away from the legislative assembly building because they appear to pose a danger to other civilians," Noegroho was quoted as saying by Antara after making a brief inspection of security arrangements at the complex.

He said the volunteer force would instead be temporarily deployed to guard shopping centers and office buildings. He did not elaborate.

On Wednesday evening, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar M. Sianipar said in a statement that the police had not ordered precinct chiefs to mobilize civilians.

Sianipar also said that National Police chief Lt. Gen. Roesmanhadi had made it clear that demonstrators must not bring sharp weapons with them.

He reiterated that civilians had volunteered out of concern after hearing reports that the session was under threat from a number of groups opposed to it.

Police have also "introduced order" to the groups of civilians who initially staged demonstrations in support of the session but later went on to undertake "activities which were against the law", Sianipar said.

Among those who have voiced harsh criticism at the deployment of civilians are the independent Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), politicians Amien Rais and Matori Abdul Djalil, and a number of international human rights groups.

"Mobilizing 125,000 largely untrained civilians against thousands of student protesters just doubles the problem," Human Rights Watch said in a fax dated Nov. 10.

"Who is going to guard the guards," the New York-based rights watchdog said.

The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) said two civilian youth groups mobilized -- the Pemuda Panca Marga and the Pemuda Pancasila -- had been implicated in past outbreaks of violence that have since been linked to the government.

"Far from reassuring the population, they are making people nervous," the FIDH said.

Matori, the chairman of the National Awakening Party, said the use of vigilantes showed contempt for the people.

Amien, who leads the National Mandate Party, called for the vigilante groups to be disbanded.

"The Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander has the golden opportunity to show the people that he is sensitive to their demands," he said.

Deploying civilians is tantamount to pitting brother against brother and it's dangerous, he said.

Kontras added to calls to withdraw the armed civilian guards in a media conference here on Wednesday. Coordinator Munir said the deployment of thousands of civilian guards under the pretext of safeguarding the session was an attempt to create conflict in society.

He accused the authorities, especially the police, of "systematically" and "intentionally" recruiting and organizing the deployment of civilian guards from a number of towns in Central and West Java.

Separately, leaders of the Muslim Forum to Uphold the Constitution and Justice (Furkon) said from their office in the Grand Mosque Istiqlal that they had organized the civilian guards to protect the ongoing Special Session from being disrupted by those opposed to it.

"Furkon believes that the Special Session is the only bridge that will lead to the constitutional implementation of the reform agenda," chairman Komaruddin Rachmat said.

He noted the presence of groups claiming to be students who have openly declared they intend to disrupt the proceedings of the session.

"They even mobilized the masses near the legislative assembly building. Thus, we state firmly that Furkon will not back off until the groups who wants to foil the session stop their actions," he said.

He apologized to the public for the "unsympathetic" behavior of some Furkon members deployed to safeguard the session, adding that sharpened bamboo poles brandished by its members were not spears but flag poles.

Another leader, Faisal Biki, said: "I fear the guards have been infiltrated by those who want to stir up trouble. That is always a possibility."

Meanwhile, Antara reported that Embay Mulya Syarif, the leader of the Banten People for Reform, had called home 3,000 volunteer security guards who traveled from Banten to Jakarta to safeguard the session. He said they had been infiltrated by men armed with spears and machetes. (team)