Women upset at 'police' search

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)