Arientha Primanita – The public is in for some "shocking" revelations about the recent bloody clash at Tanjung Priok as the city's fact-finding team prepares to release damning evidence against those it believes instigated the violence that left three people dead and more than 170 injured, a city councilor said on Tuesday.
"We have identified the parties responsible for the clashes," councilor S Andyka, a member of the fact-finding team, told the Jakarta Globe. "We have some shocking findings."
Footage of the incident in North Jakarta provided by Tanjung Priok security officials had some scenes edited out, Andyka said, but in the remaining footage, protesters could be seen targeting law officers for violence.
"We could see that there were parties attempting to corner [members] of security forces," Andyka said.
The rioting began when some 1,750 officers from the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) tried to carry out the city's plan to clear settlements around the sacred tomb of Mbah Priok, an 18th century Muslim cleric, which abuts the port's container yard. Brute force by Satpol officers was said to have triggered the violence as local residents resisted.
Andyka said that preliminary results of the investigation indicated that the descendants of Mbah Priok and their attorneys all allegedly played some role that led to the April 14 incident.
"There were reportedly more than 1,000 text messages and leaflets informing people that the tomb was going to be removed and that it needed protection," Andyka said.
Yan Djuanda, a lawyer for Mbah Priok's descendants, told the Globe that their attempts to protect the tomb could not be classified as provocation.
"It is quite normal for people in our community to protect what they believe in, and to enlighten others about the importance of the tomb," Yan said. "We really believed that the city was planning to move the tomb."
Andyka, who was himself injured during the clashes, said the fact-finding team would complete all formal investigations this week and would hand over its findings in a formal report to City Council Speaker Ferrial Sofyan next week. "The speaker will then provide a formal letter of recommendations to Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo."
While the Satpol chief, Harianto Badjuri, was suspended following the violence, Fauzi said during formal questioning by city councilors that he suspected provocateurs were primarily to blame for the deadly clashes in which public order officers faced heavily armed demonstrators.
Andyka said the fact-finding team was still scheduled to summon officials from PT Jakarta International Container Terminal and state port operator PT Pelindo II for questioning. He said the team also planned to summon the descendants of Mbah Priok.
Pelindo has a share in the JICT, which was granted development rights to the disputed land around the tomb by the government in 1999. The National Land Agency (BPN) said earlier the disputed 5.4 hectares had been granted to the heirs of Mbah Priok by the Dutch colonial government in 1934.
In 1979, the Indonesian government ordered all owners of Dutch-granted land to register their property with the BPN or cede it to the state, but the heirs did not do so. The land thus became state property, and in 1987 was granted to Pelindo.
Separately, a deputy chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Nurcholis, told the Globe that the commission would wrap up its investigation today.
He said the commission's findings would focus on three issues: who was ultimately responsible for the clash; whether the government was responsible for those injured or killed in the clash on both sides (namely Satpol officers and the public); and the settlement of the dispute over the tomb.
"Even though Satpol PP officers are actually civilians, on the day of the rioting they were government officers," Nurcholis said. He added that violations of the 1999 Law on Human Rights had been found by the commission.
Ulla Nuchrawaty Usman, head of an Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) team investigating the violence, said its results would be released on Friday. She said the team had recorded 231 victims of the clash and expected the city administration to provide them with some form of assistance.
Sociologist Paulus Wirotomo, from the University of Indonesia, said results of the investigations would be a lesson to the city administration on the need to improve the workings of Satpol.
"Satpol PP should have adopted a 'civilian approach.' They should not have pitted the squad against the people. They should have known how to manage themselves," Paulus said.
He added that Satpol officers needed training in "comprehensive methods" for avoiding potential conflicts by studying field conditions first. This, he said, included learning how to use dialogue to ease tensions over evictions.