Women upset at 'police' search

JAKARTA (JP): Twenty people claiming to be police officers raided the headquarters of a women's organization in Cipinang Cempedak, East Jakarta, early Saturday morning.

The organization, Solidaritas Perempuan (Women's Solidarity for Human Rights), filed a complaint with the City Police yesterday that the people, who claimed to be City Police members, broke into its office at 4:30 a.m.

They were "searching for people involved in the July 27 incident," a press release from the organization said.

The men searched all the rooms, climbed the walls and seized documents and some office equipment, Tati Krisnawaty, the executive chairperson of the organization, said.

Apparently failing to find what they were seeking, the "police" detained three of the organization's employees who were sleeping at the office.

The complaint did not name the employees who were taken "to an unknown location" for interrogation.

Two of them were interrogated from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.. The other employee was questioned from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. "with violence," Tati said.

The employees of the organization, which focuses on migrant workers rights, were not shown any arrest or search warrants, she said.

"These methods clearly violate the Criminal Code (in which warrants are compulsory) and the presumption of innocence..", the complaint read.

The office items seized "have no relation to the July 27 incident," Tati said.

The items include letters of legal representation, passports and other documents of female migrant workers or their relatives who sought assistance from the organization and relevant government regulations.

A telephone book, a white board and books were also among the items taken.

The organization demanded that the City Police -- "if the men were really from the City Police" -- immediately return all the items, including those urgently needed for advocacy work for migrant workers.

"We also request that their terrorizing method not be repeated, as it creates a feeling of insecurity in our office and in our environment," Tati said.

"If (the men) were not from the City Police, we ask that the police promptly investigate the matter."

"We hope that those who have violated human rights and the law are punished in accordance with the law," Tati said. (anr)