Niken Prathivi, Jakarta – For Rp 25,000 (US$26) each, hundreds of people staged a rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and area near the Presidential Palace on Wednesday to support the National Police.
The protest occurred after the presidential fact-finding team recommended that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono punish the police officials involved in the antigraft body debacle. The protest caused heavy traffic jams on Jl. Sudirman, Jl. M.H. Thamrin and Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, Central Jakarta.
One of the protesters, Jati, 23, a resident of Menteng Dalam, Central Jakarta, said that his friend asked him to join in the protest. Jati said he felt annoyed about the case that he saw frequently broadcast on TV.
Another protester said they received Rp 25,000 for ojek (motorcycle taxi) fee, detik.com reported.
The fact-finding team filed a recommendation to Yudhoyono on Tuesday after weeks of probing a series of corruption cases involving suspended Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies, Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto. The recommendation included a suggestion to halt the investigation into Bibit and Chandra.
"I know about the fact-finding team from TV," protester Surono said. "Meanwhile, (I acknowledge that) the police and the Attorney General's Office are the law enforcers."
Commenting on the existence of paid protesters, Cicak (Love Indonesia, Love the KPK civil society movement) activist Eryanto Nugroho said this phenomenon showed the police panicked over the movement.
"The crocodile (the police) is panicking" over massive civil society support for the KPK, Eryanto said. "The notion of the 'paid protester' is old. However, I'm concerned about their presence and them not knowing about what they are protesting."
But Eryanto said it was easy to tell who the "real" protestors were. "I'm pretty sure civil society is aware about the (paid protester) phenomenon and can discern who the real demonstrators are."
The terms cicak (gecko) and buaya (crocodile) became popular after National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji commented on an article published by a national magazine titled "Cicak kok mau lawan buaya?" (How can a gecko fight a crocodile?).