JAKARTA: Over a week after violence erupted after Aug. 27 demonstrations in Jakarta, questions remain over whether police would arrest people responsible for the unrest and death of a bystander amid concerns over the transparency of investigation into the case.
Bambang Setiyawan, a 60-year-old mirror vendor in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta, was killed after being assaulted by a group of unidentified people during unrest on Aug. 27 evening that unfolded after a protest in front of the Senayan legislative complex the same day.
On Wednesday (Sept 2), the Jakarta Police announced it had named 47 suspects allegedly involved in the damaging of public facilities and assault against Bambang. The police also released sketches of two men aged between 30 and 40, who are currently at large, allegedly connected to Bambang’s death.
The Jakarta Police are also probing the possibility of rioters being mobilised amid signs that the violence followed a pattern seen in previous unrests, said the police general criminal investigation director Sr. Comr. Iman Imanuddin.
According to the police, the suspected rioters came to Senayan legislative complex on Aug. 27 afternoon, hours after the protesters, led by a group of residents from Central Java’s Pati that asked for stronger fight against corruption, had already left the location. The police suspected the latter group also came to incite violence.
“Though they appear fragmented, we suspect there was an underlying mobilisation,” Iman said. “We are launching a thorough investigation to identify the masterminds, alleged financiers and instigators behind this rioting crowd.”
Iman stopped short of linking the rioters to any particular organisation despite growing speculations over the possible involvement of mass organisations, saying investigators had not found any indications of the perpetrators belonging to any particular communities.
Pressure for the police to uncover perpetrators behind the unrest and murder came amid scrutiny over the involvement of paramilitary group United Indonesian People’s Movement (GRIB) Jaya in dispersing protesters on Aug. 27.
Videos circulating on social media showed groups of men, some of whom wearing white headbands and carrying bamboo poles and wooden planks, arriving in trucks near the Slipi overpass some two kilometers from the legislative complex.
They were later seen chasing and beating people. Representatives of GRIB Jaya later confirmed the group’s strongman Hercules and its members were present in Jakarta streets that night, acting on their own initiative as part of “Pam Swakarsa”, a New Order-era term for armed civilian groups mobilised alongside security forces to disperse protesters.
In Wednesday’s briefing, the Jakarta Police confirmed that groups like GRIB Jaya were legally permitted to assist with security, as long as they do not overstep the law enforcement body’s authorities. But the force declined to link any of the violent rioters to GRIB Jaya or other groups.
Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid slammed the police’s “unreasonably” slow investigation, arguing the number of witness testimonies and digital records available should have helped the probe.
“The area is not far from the West Jakarta Police and the Jakarta Police headquarters. The police could even easily track down activists simply based on reports linking them to an anarchist network, even though they had not yet been involved in any acts of violence,” Usman said.
“The investigation appears sluggish when, clearly, the case [of the Aug. 27 unrest] is not difficult to solve,” he continued.
Constitutional law expert Bivitri Susanti from Jakarta-based Jentera School of Law also concurred, questioning why the police released sketches of alleged perpetrators made from witness testimonies despite the high numbers of video evidence.
She called for greater transparency from the police that would build public’s trust towards the investigation process, while also urging investigators to use data from various fact-finding efforts done by civil society groups and journalists.
“If the police say they have not been able to uncover what happened,” Bivitri said, “I think we have to be skeptical and ask more questions.” - The Jakarta Post/ANN
