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Army, Police chiefs apologize for last night's shootings
Army Chief of Staff Gen
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rmy Chief of Staff Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo and National Police chief Gen. Sutarman apologized to the public for recent occurrences in Batam that involved personnel from both forces.
They promised effective and permanent solutions and assured they would bring everybody involved to justice.
'We will respectively conduct internal investigations first, finding who should be held responsible for this incident,' Sutarman told a press conference on Thursday.
Sutarman added that the recent conflict had sparked from issues surrounding welfare levels in both forces.
'The root of this conflict remains the lack of welfare for personnel. Therefore, we need to do something to increase the level of welfare so we encounter no similar conflicts in the future,' he said.
Commenting on this, Nurmantyo said from his side, it was obvious that there was insubordination. Therefore, he ordered a team led by Army Military Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Dodik Widjanarko to gather all the rifles and evidence and to investigate the incident.
'We'll make sure that justice is served,' he said.
The recent conflict claimed the life of Chief Pvt. Jack Marpaung and injured a local in the leg. Jack, who was among the dissidents shooting at the Brimob headquarters, was hit from behind by a bullet that, according to Sutarman, did not belong to any Brimob personnel.
Gatot said the Army would take responsibility for all the damage that had been caused and also for the victims.
The incident dated back to when soldiers from 134 Tuah Sakti Infantry Battalion quarreled with Brimob personnel at a gas station. The conflict caused dozens of other soldiers to seek retaliation by attacking Brimob headquarters.
The second conflict occurred yesterday afternoon after a group of 60 soldiers left their barracks armed with rifles to shoot at Brimob headquarters; the incident lasted almost until midnight.
The shooting ended after Bukit Barisan I Military Command chief Maj. Gen. Winston P Simanjuntak shouted at the soldiers to stop. At the same time, dozens of locals held a mass rally requesting the soldiers stop the shootings.(dic)(++++)
