House to meet with police chief over gun ownership

The House of Representatives plans to summon National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo in the near future in the wake of a series of incidents involving armed civilians in public places, a lawmaker has said.

A member of House’s Commission III overseeing legal, human rights and security affairs, Sarifuddin Sudding, said the meeting would be carried out soon after the currently ongoing recess period ends on May 13.

“We will demand National Police chief explain why there have been so many cases of gun misappropriations by civilians,” Sudding of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) said on Sunday.

The politician added he suspected there had been loopholes in the procedures of gun ownership by civilians as well as in the monitoring mechanism by the police force itself.

“What we are concerned with is not only the restaurant incident, but also numerous armed robberies happening recently all around the city. How can civilians so easily have guns and use them in criminal acts?” asked Sudding, who represented the Central Sulawesi electoral district.

He was referring to a recent incident at a restaurant in Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta, where businessman Iswahyudi Ashari allegedly threatened a restaurant worker by pointing a gun at him.

The Jakarta Police have named Iswahyudi a suspect, who denied the accusation, saying that he was actually using a gun-shaped lighter.

“The police must tighten the criteria for civilians to have a gun. Those who have been found to have misused their guns must be banned and declared ineligible to have any kind of firearm, forever,” Sudding said. (nvn)