Triwik Kurniasari, Jakarta – The city administration should close down public order agencies across the country, locally known as Satpol PP, following repeated incidents of alleged violence committed by its officers, an NGO said Monday.

The Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial) said the existence of the agencies had led to an overlapping of roles between the organization and the city police, as public order officers could arrest people without a warrant.

"There has been a military characteristic to the agency, which has been present since the organization was established during the colonial era.

"The agency was previously deployed to fight the public," managing director of Imparsial, Rusdi Marpaung said. "This militaristic culture did not change after independence," he said.

Imparsial claimed the jurisdiction of public order officers was quite disorderly, as they only applied partial leadership.

Public order officers have been repeatedly linked with violent attacks during their policing of illegal street vendors, squatters and sex workers.

While conducting their duties, officers are armed with water cannons and electrical equipment, identical to those used by police officers and other military forces.

The recent death of an alleged prostitute called Fifi, who died on May 18 in Cisadane River, Tangerang, occurred after she ran away from public order officers who were conducting a raid on street prostitutes.

Some witnesses said the officers pelted Fifi with stones as she jumped into the river. Instead of helping her, the officers allegedly continued to pelt her with stones. Fifi died of exhaustion trying to get out of the river.

In May, Surabaya Public Order officers chased street vendors on Jl. Raya Boulevard. One of the vendors, Sumariyah, tried to escape, but her meatball cart collided with the officers' car. Sumariyah's daughter, 4-year-old Siti Khoiriyah, received burns from the boiling meatball broth in her mother's cart. Sumariyah was also burnt from the broth and was injured after one of the officers pulled her hair. Siti later died from severe burns.

Rusdi claimed the Home Ministry had empowered public order officers to enforce bylaws.

"Regional autonomy may fail due to the inability of the ministry to control the large jurisdiction of public order officers," he said. "Their main task is to reinforce public order and the decisions of regional heads," he added.

Some laws stipulate that public order officers function similarly to the police, including Law No.32/2004, which gives public order officers the authority to perform security and intelligence roles.

Based on this, the officers can legally take any action, even if it violates the law, if it is based on the premise of maintaining public order.

This ruling actually secures the power of regional authorities, Imparsial said. Rusdi also criticized the weak monitoring of the agency by the Home Ministry, and the absence of an external monitoring system, claiming violent actions could occur when officials could not be adequately punished. (nia)