Wiranto warns against looting

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) warned yesterday it will crack down hard against looters amid growing signs of a breakdown of law and order in some parts of the country.

ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto, who is also minister of defense and security, acknowledged that many people have been impoverished by the economic crisis, with some losing their jobs and others even driven to the verge of starvation.

But these conditions should not be used as a pretext to break the law, he said.

"Even if we are in a critical condition, we must never tolerate crime," Wiranto said after attending a meeting with President B.J. Habibie at the State Guest House yesterday.

The three-hour meeting preceded by lunch was attended by Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security Gen. (ret.) Feisal Tanjung, Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Haryono Suyono.

Also present were Minister of Information Mohammad Yunus, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, and Minister/State Secretary Akbar Tandjung.

Wiranto said he summoned all 10 regional military commanders to Jakarta yesterday and gave them clear orders to contain the rising crime rates in their respective areas.

"The plundering of shrimp ponds, plantations, and the takeover of other people's property has been conducted by people in total disregard of the law. They cannot get away with this," he said.

Wiranto stressed the government has been working hard to resolve the problem of starvation through social movements, and "not by allowing people to steal".

With the economic crisis biting deeper and deeper, lawlessness appears to have become the order of the day in some parts of Indonesia.

Dozens of traders of Chinese descent were forced to flee on Thursday after mobs attacked their shops and rice mills in Jember, East Java, according to the Suara Pembaruan daily.

They looted foodstuffs, electronic goods and spare parts from shops and kiosks in Sempolan, the town's main business center.

"We are hungry," they shouted in defiance of troops' appeals to them to stop the looting.

A separate report said hundreds of Chinese-Indonesians were making their way out of the East Java capital of Surabaya yesterday, apparently out of fears of renewed unrest.

On Monday, nearly 2,000 villagers plundered a shrimp pond in Teluknaga in Tangerang, west of Jakarta. Reports said looters were not moved at all by the warning shots fired by police, and instead sang and danced to the tune of the firing.

Some even threw mud at a police dog.

Police questioned 80 villagers but all were released later.

In Banyuwangi, East Java, thousands of villagers have been plundering coffee beans from plantations in Banyuwangi, East Java, reports said. They said they were starving and were stealing the coffee just to feed their families.

In Malang, East Java, about 1,000 Tirtoyudo farmers destroyed the state-owned Kalibakar cocoa plantation. The demonstrators said the government should return the land to them, because they were forced to abandon their land many years ago.

Even the huge ranch of former president Soeharto in Tapos, Bogor, has not been spared from attacks.

Hundreds of farmers from nearby Cibedug have forced their way onto part of the 750-hectare Tri-S Tapos ranch, demanding the right to till the land.

They claimed that it was very unjust that they should be barred from farming the land when they were suffering from food shortages.

They have also threatened to sue Soeharto for seizing their land in 1970s without any compensation.

Informed sources said Soeharto's family have deployed more guards -- at a price -- to protect all their properties across the country to prevent possible attacks against them.

"In the past they took their protection for granted. Now they have to be more financially generous to people to ensure their own safety," one reliable source said yesterday.

When asked to comment on the attack on Soeharto's Tapos ranch, Wiranto said the military would accord protection to everyone.

"The ownership is legal," said Wiranto, who has vowed to protect the safety and the good name of the former president. (prb)