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View all search resultsEvery officer must be equipped with a bulletproof vest, helmet and "weapons".
ational Police chief Gen. Idham Azis has ordered the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) riot team to patrol areas known to have many Islam Defenders Front (FPI) supporters, following the killing of six FPI members in the early hours of Monday morning.
Every officer, he said, had to be equipped with a bulletproof vest, a helmet and “weapons”.
The order was given through a police telegram on Monday, which cited a contingency plan released on Jan. 1 of this year on “counterterrorism actions” and the killing of the six FPI members as the background. Through the telegram, Idham also ordered increased security measures at all police facilities and that visitors be thoroughly searched using metal detectors.
“Officers on duty need to always monitor security and public order situations in their respective areas and to increase their safety and security,” Idham said.
National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Awi Setiyono said Idham had told the police to increase their vigilance and preparedness following the incident.
“The National Police chief issued 11 orders in the telegram, including to increase our vigilance and preparedness,” Awi said on Tuesday as reported by tempo.co.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Fadil Imran announced on Monday that alleged FPI sympathizers had attacked police officers who were following a tip-off about a plan to disrupt the questioning of FPI leader Rizieq Shihab for violating health protocols by holding mass gatherings last month.
Fadhil said that when officers were tailing a vehicle thought to be carrying Rizieq supporters on the Cikampek toll road, the driver of the vehicle noticed that they were being followed and proceeded to block the police car.
He claimed that the alleged Rizieq supporters then attacked police officers on the scene with firearms and sharp weapons, forcing the police to shoot back.
FPI chairman Ahmad Shabri Lubis and secretary-general Munarman, however, refuted the claims and said a group of unidentified people had attacked Rizieq and his entourage on Monday.
The unknown group then shot at one of the cars containing six FPI members and “abducted” them. The six members were later separated from the others and remained unaccounted for until the police announced that they had been killed, the FPI said.
Munarman claimed that authorities had conducted “extrajudicial killings” on the members. He also asked the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to investigate the matter.
On Tuesday, Komnas HAM announced that it had formed a fact-finding team to investigate the clash between the Jakarta Police and the FPI that occurred on Monday morning.
Komnas HAM commissioner Muhammad Choirul Anam said his office had begun gathering information and taking statements from various parties, including the FPI, to parse conflicting statements issued by the police and the Islamic group on Monday.
“For the sake of uncovering what happened, we hope every stakeholder is willing to cooperate and be transparent,” Chairul told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, adding that he expected the police to be supportive of the fact-finding efforts.
The police and the FPI issued divergent accounts of the deadly altercation that took place at kilometer 50 of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road in the early hours of Monday, prompting calls for a thorough and impartial investigation into what had actually transpired.
Muhammadiyah, one of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organizations, has commended Komnas HAM’s swift actions to investigate the incident.
“I appreciate Komnas HAM for having responded positively [to the FPI’s report] by forming an investigation team,” Muhammadiyah secretary-general Abdul Mu’ti said in a statement. “Such an initiative is a peaceful and elegant solution.”
According to the police’s account, a vehicle thought to belong to sympathizers of Rizieq obstructed a police car deployed to tail it in response to reports of a plan to disrupt the police’s questioning of Rizieq, which had been scheduled to take place at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Monday morning.
Rizieq had been summoned by the Jakarta Police to answer questions regarding COVID-19 health protocol violations at his organization’s mass gatherings last month.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Munarman identified the six FPI members killed on Monday as Andi Oktiawan (33), Ahmad Sofiyan (26), Faiz Ahmad Syukur (22), Muhammad Reza (20), Lutfi Hakim (25) and Muhammad Suci Khadavi (21).
The FPI secretary-general said the group had not known where the six men were until the Jakarta Police announced at a press conference on Monday afternoon that they had been shot dead.
“It is not true that [the FPI members] were armed and fired shots. FPI members are not equipped with any sort of weapon,” Munarman said.
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