Jakarta Police refuse to respond on clash containment failure accusation

Jakarta Police spokesman said Saturday that the institution would further evaluate Wednesday's deadly clash in North Jakarta, refusing to respond on accusation that the police had failed to help contain the conflict.

“We have to look first; what caused [the clash]; who was responsible,” Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, the spokesman, said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The riot in Koja, North Jakarta, claimed the lives of three public order officers and injured at least 128 people. The clash erupted as the public order officers attempted to seize an Islamic leader memorial complex.

Earlier on Saturday, Hotman Sinambela, a top official at the Public Order Agency accused that the police had left his subordinates as clash broke out, leaving public order officers to their own devices.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo had suspended Public Order Agency head Harianto Badjoeri.

The clash was triggered by a land dispute between state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II and the self-proclaimed heirs of revered Muslim figure, Arif Billah Hasan bin Muhammad Al Hadad, whose tomb used to be located at the memorial complex on the land.