Youth groups support fight against 'preman'
Youth groups support fight against 'preman'
JAKARTA (JP): Three powerful youth organizations said on
Saturday they supported the determination of the city police and
military to fight the street hoodlums throughout the capital.
The three organizations are Pemuda Panca Marga, Forum
Komunikasi Putra Purnawirawan Indonesia and Pemuda Pancasila.
Harianto Badjuri and Jonggi Sihombing, respectively the
chairmen of the Jakarta chapters of the Panca Marga youth group
and of the communication forum, which groups the children of
retired Armed Forces officers, told reporters the activities of
the hoodlums, popularly called preman, tend to disrupt security.
"We strongly hail the operation to rid the city of
hooliganism," Harianto reiterated, adding that the Jakarta
chapter of Pemuda Pancasila backed his statement.
The youth leaders urged the authorities, especially the police
and military officers, to undertake the fight against the
hoodlums carefully in order to avoid mistaken arrests.
"Carelessness in this fight will only lead to the arrests of
innocent people," he said.
The city police and military officers vowed early last week to
fight street hoodlums throughout Jakarta following the killing of
one police officer and the wounding of another.
First Lieutenant Budi Prasetyo Utomo was stabbed and beaten to
death by a group of drunken thugs near the Melawai Plaza building
in the Blok M shopping area in South Jakarta on Monday afternoon,
while Budi's colleague, Capt. Arman Depari, suffered several
bruises to the face.
City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo and head of the
Jakarta branch of the Coordinating Agency for National Defense
and Stability Maj. Gen. Wiranto announced that preman are now the
main target in the joint crime-fighting drive code named
Operation Cleansing.
The representatives of the youth organizations advised
Jakartans to participate in the drive against the hoodlums
because creating security in the city is not only the job of
police and military officers.
"Their participation can be in the form of intensifying moral
education among our youth and maintaining security in their own
communities," Harianto said.
Other supportive activities include steps toward eliminating
social problems ranging from student delinquency to unemployment,
he said.
Jonggi urged young people, especially the children of police
and military officers, to join his organization to enable them to
work toward solving the problems.
He said that his organization has a training program for
unemployed youth and delinquent students.
He explained that most of the young people who have joined his
organization's training programs are able to get appropriate
jobs. Only a small number of them fail and become criminals
instead, he said. (yns)