House to summon police chief over deaths in Bima

Bloody Bima: Protesters grouped under the coalition of “West Nusa Tenggara residents for bloody Bima 2412” carry a casket and a cardboard riffle while demonstrating at the Bank Indonesia Mataram intersection in West Nusa Tenggara on Monday. They called for National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo to be held responsible for the deaths of two locals in a clash between local police officers and Bima residents on Saturday. (Antara/Ahmad Subaidi)The House of Representatives’ law commission says it will summon National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo over allegations of violence committed by police officers dealing with a demonstration in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara.

“The National Police should prevent riots and anarchy. But the question is, why did preventive measures cause the deaths of two demonstrators,” the commission’s chairman Benny K. Harman said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

The commission would have to wait until Jan. 9 before summoning the police chief as the House was currently in recess, he said.

He also said it was the public’s basic right to express their position against mining activities in their area and it was the police’s job to make sure that such protests were conducted in a civil manner.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha previously said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had ordered Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto and Timur to investigate the Bima incident and take firm action against all parties involved, including officers found to have acted inappropriately.