Police Investigate Case Of Alleged Persecution Of Residents Of Permata Buana, West Jakarta, Expert Says There Is A Criminal

JAKARTA - Police are still investigating the case of alleged persecution of residents of Permata Buana, West Jakarta. According to the plan, linguists will be consulted.

Head of Criminal Investigation Unit for the West Jakarta Metro Police, Kompol Dwi Joko Harsono, said that the examination is expected to be a linguist to look for suspected criminal elements.

"We are still looking for (criminal elements)," Joko said when confirmed, Friday, October 29.

According to Joko, the preliminary investigation results in the alleged persecution case did not meet the criminal element. This is because the word 'expel' which is installed in front of the fence of the complainant's house named Hartono Prasetya alias Toni is not considered a violation.

"Because yesterday the criminal law expert said there was no crime in that case," said Joko.

Responding to this, a lecturer at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences at the University of Indonesia, Frans Asisi Datang, said that the alleged case of persecution had actually fulfilled the element of violence.

"In general, the two sentences mean violence," said Frans.

Then, Frans also stated that the word 'expel' contained an element of threat. According to him, it is categorized as a criminal offense.

"The second sentence means to expel also even though there is a form of presupposition. The second sentence also relies on someone not socializing with neighbors and residents,” said Frans.

For information, a resident of Permata Buana Hartono Prasetya alias Toni (64) was persecuted after sending a letter to the Mayor of West Jakarta. Disappointed with that, a number of residents accompanied by elements of the village then raided their homes in February 2021, the persecution allegedly took place at that time.

Under the threat, the residents then put up two cardboard boxes with the words 'Expel Toni from Permata Buana' and 'Stay in the forest if you want to be lonely and don't want to socialize with neighbors and residents' which were then affixed to the fence of their house.

The alleged case of persecution was reported to the West Jakarta Metro Police. The report was registered with the number TBL/188/III/2021/PMJ/Restro Jakbar dated March 3, 2021.