There Were Police During The Beating Of Wiyanto Halim In Pulogadung, But Admitted They Were Overwhelmed When They Broke Up The Mass Action

JAKARTA - Head of IPW (Indonesia Police Watch) Sugeng Teguh Santo questioned the security carried out by members of the police at the location of the beating of Wiyanto Halim, an elderly man who was beaten to death by a mob for allegedly stealing a car on Jalan Pulo Kambing, Pulogadung, East Jakarta.

According to Sugeng, what is the focus is the need for security measures by Patko even though the crowd is outnumbered. Sugeng also said that members at the scene should take firm action to break up the beatings in accordance with existing procedures.

"Whether standard security procedures, including the use of weapons by the police are applied, that should be the focus of the investigation. Patko must be examined by the Propam whether there was a disciplinary violation there because it could not prevent the beatings, causing people's lives to be lost," said Sugeng.

Meanwhile, the Head of Public Relations of the Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Endra Zulpan confirmed that there were members of the police at the time of the beating. Two members of the East Jakarta Metro Police patrol team. However, said Endra Zulpan, his party admitted that they were overwhelmed when they tried to dispel the crowd.

"But because of the large number of people, there were more than members. Only one car member was chasing from behind to break this up," said Endra Zulpan at the East Jakarta Police Headquarters, Tuesday, January 25.

Endra added that the patrol team that boarded a Command Patrol (Patko) car was already trying to dispel the crowd at the time of the incident, Sunday, January 23, at 02.00 WIB.

However, because the number of members of the East Jakarta Metro Police Patko was not proportional to the number of people, they could not prevent them from destroying the Toyota Rush car with plate B 1859 SYL.

"Because of the uncontrolled situation and also the large crowd. With the emotional situation that was not under control because they were provoked, a violent crime occurred," said Zulpan.

Although admitting they were overwhelmed, Zulpan said members of the East Jakarta Metro Police Patko had acted according to standard operating procedures (standard operating procedures/SOPs) when trying to dispel the crowd.

He said that before Wiyanto was beaten, members of the East Jakarta Metro Police Patko fired warning shots of tear gas.

"Of course, this is a lesson for us as well. That the impact of this vigilante action resulted in the death of someone, that's the first time," said Zulpan.