“It is the duty of the law enforcement officers to act firmly and fairly in enforcing the law; and remember that they are protected by the law in performing their duties,” he said in a video statement on Sunday.

Jokowi added that the law enforcement officers were also obliged to follow procedures.

“For this reason, there should not be any citizens who act arbitrarily and violate the law and harm the public and the nation,” he said.

And if there were differing opinions among the public, everyone should use various existing legal mechanisms to solve it.

“If it requires the involvement of an independent institution, Indonesia has the National Commission on Human Rights [Komnas HAM] where the public can submit complaints,” the President said.

Jokowi was commenting on the death of six members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) in what many suspected to be targeted killing on Dec. 6 at a section of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road.

The FPI claimed the bodies of the six men had more than one gunshot wound, and the shots appeared to have been aimed at the heart.

The six FPI members were part of FPI leader Rizieq Shihab’s entourage tasked with escorting the controversial cleric.

The Jakarta Police named Rizieq a suspect on Thursday for allegedly violating COVID-19 protocols by hosting events last month that pulled in thousands of people after his return from self-exile in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 10.

Before he was named a suspect, Rizieq had at least twice defied police summons for questioning as a witness. The firebrand cleric surrendered to the Jakarta Police on Saturday and fulfilled a police summons for questioning at the Jakarta Police headquarters.

Police investigators questioned Rizieq on Saturday afternoon until past midnight before placing him in custody at one of the Jakarta Police’s detention centers for the next 20 days.

“This is to facilitate the investigation,” National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Argo Yuwono said as quoted from kompas.com.

Argo said the arrest was applicable to criminal charges that carry penalties of five years in prison or more, adding that it was also to prevent Rizieq from fleeing, destroying evidence or breaching the coronavirus restrictions again.

Rizieq denied that he had been in hiding, saying he had been staying at his Islamic boarding school in Megamendung, Bogor, West Java, with occasional visits to the Sentul area and his house, as well as FPI’s headquarters in Petamburan, Central Jakarta, to see his children and grandchildren.

Rizieq is charged under Article 160 of the Criminal Code on incitement of criminal acts that is punishable by up to six years of imprisonment and Article 216 on the obstruction of criminal investigation, which carries a prison sentence of up to four months and two weeks.

Investigators had reportedly been tailing him and his entourage because of a tip claiming Rizieq and his followers were planning to evade police questioning, which is considered an obstruction of justice.

The police tailgating led to the death of the six FPI members in circumstances that are not clear yet.

The police and the FPI issued different accounts of the incident, with the police arguing that the officers had defended themselves from a life-threatening attack launched by FPI members, while the group claimed that none of its members had been carrying weapons and that the shooting violated police protocols.

Jokowi’s statement was also directed at the killing of four residents of Lembantongoa village in Sigi regency, Central Sulawesi, in an apparent terrorist attack attributed to the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) extremist group.

The government has deployed a special team to hunt down MIT leader Ali Kalora and his followers to reinforce Operation Tinombala, a joint operation carried out by the Indonesian Military and the police. (dis)