Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Fri, May 25, 2012
Archive Search

Jakarta Police Quick to Move Against Anti-Malaysian Vigilantes
Bati Kartini | December 03, 2009

Share This Page
0
0
0
0
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

Be the first to write your opinion!

Responding with almost unprecedented urgency, the Jakarta Police on Wednesday said they would soon begin calling witnesses less than 24 hours after receiving complaints that a fringe nationalist group had defamed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The charges were filed against the People’s Democratic Defense, better known as Bendera, on Tuesday by Edi Baskoro, a Democratic Party lawmaker and Yudhoyono’s son; Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa; Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Joko Suyanto; and Youth and Sport Minister Andi Mallarangeng and his brothers Rizal and Choel.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said detectives were already planning to investigate Mustar Bonaventura and Ferdi Simaun, both leaders of Bendera. The group has publicly claimed, without providing evidence, that Yudhoyono along with the persons filing the complaint had received funds that had been intended to rescue ailing PT Bank Century in 2008.

Bendera also named a number of institutions as also having benefited from the bailout — the General Elections Commission (KPU), the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Choel’s Fox Indonesia consultancy and the Democratic Party.

Boy said the police would begin questioning the witnesses this week.

The preferential treatment in the case did not go unnoticed when the charges were filed. A number of senior police officers escorted the politicians to the public service counter. As soon as the complaints were registered, the police held a news conference to outline investigation plans.

Boy said that this was normal procedure for investigators. “Detectives should be able to plan their investigation. Not only for this case, but also for all cases.”

So far the police have only prepared a report based on complaints from the plaintiffs.

Police said Bonaventura and Simaun have not been named as suspects and will not be summoned until there was evidence to justify it. “They will be named suspects once the process to gather witness accounts and evidence is completed,” Boy said.

Bendera, a group said to be affiliated with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, caused a stir in September with its anti-Malaysia protests, including setting up road blocks in Central Jakarta to harass Malaysians and threatening to invade the nation.

The protests came during rising tensions between the two nations following alleged abuse of migrant workers in Malaysia and that country’s perceived attempts to appropriate Indonesian cultural heritage.