The Jakarta Post, 1/30/2007 8:48:21 PM
Police act correctly in Poso, senior minister says
JAKARTA (Antara): Indonesian police acted correctly in dealing with the group of
armed civilians in Poso believed to have committed acts of violence and terror in
Central Sulawesi, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs
Widodo AS said.
"What the police did (in Poso) was correct because they followed the procedure
prescribed for the given situation," Widodo said Tuesday.
Speaking to the press after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
Widodo was commenting on the opinion forwarded by certain quarters that the police
had gone out of line in theirrecent anti-terror operation in Poso.
During the operation which was part of the police's search for a number of people
wanted for acts of terror in Central Sulawesi, members of the police's anti- terror unit
exchanged fire with a group of armed civilians killing 13 of the group andseizing an
assortment of bombs and firearms from them. One police officer lost his life in the gun
battle.
Widodo said if the police officers involved in the recent incident had really acted
excessively, the police had an organ tasked to take disciplinary measures against
erring members of the force.
He noted that there were also allegations that the police's crack-down on suspected
perpetrators of acts of violence and terror had led to wrong arrests and police brutality
against suspects and people related to the latter. (***)
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