In a visit to the police headquarters Wednesday, nonviolence activist groups urged National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri to take stern action against hard-line groups known to have committed acts of violence.
Usman Hamid, chief of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said after the meeting the police chief had promised the activists to punish municipality police chiefs who ignored violent acts in their districts.
“The chief also guaranteed that ahead of Ramadan, there will be no raids on cafes in the name of religion,” he said, as quoted by Antara news agency.
“The chief agreed that violence had to be eradicated in the country.”
“We are extremely worried about these constant violent acts committed by groups of vigilantes or hard-liners who keep taking over the role or function of the police in this country,” he said.
He said the groups always claimed they were acting on behalf of Islam or under the banner of anti-communism.
“The violence has been recurring in certain areas in Indonesia, and it has been inflicted on certain religious minorities, as well as on those who are accused of being communist,” he said.
Usman said the vigilante groups also attacked sexual minorities, the urban poor, and human rights activists such as those from the National Commission for Human Rights and lawmakers.
“This phenomenon is very perturbing, especially as our nation is in the middle of democratization,” said Usman, who was speaking on behalf of the groups, which included Wahid Institute, Imparsial, Setara Institute, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and a caretaker of an Islamic boarding school in Cirebon, West Java, Maman Imanulhaq.
Despite the nation’s plurality, “the unstoppable violence over the past few years has completely threatened the spirit of nationalism among us.”
The police, Usman said, were “dumbfounded” and failed to uphold justice and take firm action against hardliners. He said it was not surprising that the public suspected the National Police were supporting the perpetrating organizations.
Experts have expressed concern over the police’s inability to uphold justice in the face of violent offenders.
Recently, the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) threatened to wage “war against Christianization”. The group also broke up a political meeting in Banyuwangi, East Java. One of the attending legislators, Ribka Tjiptaning, claimed the police had supported the FPI’s move and asked them end the meeting.
Earlier the FPI attacked a meeting of transgender activists in West Java and an Ahmadiyah mosque
in South Jakarta. No perpetrators were arrested as a result of the incidents.
On the heel of the police’s anger at Tempo magazine’s recent cover illustration depicting a police
officer walking with piggybanks, Molotov cocktails were thrown by unknown assailants at the magazine’s office.
Afterwards, an ICW activist, Tama S. Langkun, was beaten by four unidentified people on a street. (tsy)
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