TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Police promise to investigate Ciampea attack
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rikwanto has said the police are ready to examine evidence the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) has provided to refute accusations about it being involved in the burning of a mass organization's office in Ciampea, Bogor regency, West Java.
Change Size
Under investigation – Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Habib Rizieq (left) arrives at the West Java Police headquarters in Bandung, West Java, to attend an interrogation on Jan. 12. Rizieq was questioned in the police's investigation into a case involving an insult against Pancasila, as reported by Sukmawati Soekarnoputri.
(Antara/Fahrul Jayadiputra)
N
ational Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rikwanto has said the police are ready to examine evidence the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) has provided to refute accusations about it being involved in the burning of a mass organization's office in Ciampea, Bogor regency, West Java.
Rikwanto said FPI representatives had given him written evidence and video footage related to the case.
“We welcomed their information. We will investigate it further,” he said on Monday.
During a protest in front of the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta on Monday, hundreds of FPI members demanded the dismissal of West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan, whom they accused of having been “unfair” in the handling of a recent conflict between the group’s followers and sympathizers of a mass organization called Gerakan Masyarakat Bawah Indonesia (Indonesia Grassroots Society Movement, or GMBI).
(Read also: FPI protests ‘unfairness’ by West Java Police chief)
To learn their demands, Rikwanto agreed to meet and talk with 17 FPI representatives at his office on the sidelines of the rally.
He said the FPI called for Anton’s dismissal because they believed the police chief had let FPI members be recently abused by GMBI followers in Bandung, West Java.
“They stated that what had happened in West Java was a scandal; hence, they are calling on the police to evaluate the work performance or dismiss the West Java Police chief,” Rikwanto said.
Members of the two organizations clashed when FPI founder Rizieq Shihab underwent an interrogation last Thursday by the West Java Police over allegations he had insulted Pancasila, the state ideology.
Following their clash, several unidentified men attacked and torched the GMBI secretariat in Ciampea the day after. The police later apprehended 20 suspects for the arson and said they suspected they were from the FPI, which denied the allegations. (ebf)
