Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Dozens of soldiers Tuesday night attacked the Siantar Police station in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, over news that a police officer had earlier issued a ticket to a motorcyclist said to be a relative of a soldier.
No casualties were reported in the incident that coincided with Independence Day, but two motorcycles and a police car were damaged.
Eyewitnesses said the attack took place at around 9 p.m. local time. A local resident, Tagor, said several police personnel were on duty when more than 40 people, believed to be Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers, arrived on motorcycles and began the offensive.
The hosts, he said, did not put up a fight. Some of them chose to avoid confrontation, while others watched the attackers vandalize a number of facilities at the station. "The soldiers destroyed a police car and two motorcycles in the attack," Tagor told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Oegroseno rejected the fact attacks had occurred and denied a number of facilities at the Siantar Police station had been damaged by TNI soldiers. He clarified that only a rear-view mirror of a motorcycle was damaged.
"There was no attack. Some TNI soldiers came to the police station asking for the immediate release of a motorcycle impounded by the police earlier. After it was released, the soldiers left and broke a rear-view mirror of a motorcycle parked at the station," said Oegroseno.
Siantar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Fatori also confirmed there was no attack, saying only that a number of TNI soldiers had come to the Siantar Police station.
Oegroseno said the case was instigated by the ticket issued to a motorcyclist who was a soldier's relative. Upon receiving the complaint, he added, the soldier gathered his colleagues and went to the police station.
He added that the situation at the Siantar Police station was currently normal and the police were not on standby because there was no attack. Bukit Barisan I Military Command spokesman Lt. Col. A. Nasution said the local TNI and police top brass had held a meeting following the incident.
He said the soldiers involved in the incident had apologized to the local police chief and the entire Siantar Police force. "We will explain this to the respective members of both sides to prevent a misunderstanding which could have a negative impact on the rapport between the TNI and Pematang Siantar police, which has been cordial thus far," Nasution told the Post on Wednesday.
He said the military police would still process the TNI personnel involved in the incident according to their respective roles. The incident has precedence where there were volatile relationships between low-ranked personnel since the two institutions were separated in 1999.
The most deadly clash occurred in September 2002, where eight people, including two civilians, were killed and five others seriously injured when the Army's local airborne unit attacked the police headquarters in Binjai. The attack was triggered by a police refusal to release a drug trafficker under police detention.