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Indonesian Police Defy Wahid Order Against Police Chief
JAKARTA, July 12 (News Agencies) - Members of Indonesia's elite police force Thursday refused to allow legal action against their national police chief, defying a direct order from President Abdurrahman Wahid.
Wahid had ordered legal action against the defiant police chief but stopped short of ordering his arrest, presidential aides said.
"The president has ordered Coordinating Minister for Political Social and Security Affairs, Agum Gumelar, to take legal action against those... engaged in insubordination," presidential spokesman Yahya Staquf said.
Those targeted were officially dismissed national police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro and Jakarta police chief Inspector General Sofyan Yacoeb.
"If needed, an arrest can be made if the laws allow it against the perpetrators of the insubordination," Staquf told reporters. Earlier reports claimed that Wahid had made the arrest order for Bimantoro.
However, a key Wahid aide, cabinet secretary and former attorney general Marsuki Darusman, later clarified that there was no explicit arrest order.
"So far there is no effective order for the arrest of General Bimantoro," Darusman told a hastily called press conference at his office.
Wahid had raised the arrest idea in a meeting with Gumelar and Darusman on Tuesday, but the security minister had rejected it and advised Wahid to consider "alternative means" of resolving the problem, Darusman said.
"The president did ask for an arrest to be carried out but the meeting did not give its full agreement," Darusman said.
"The president agreed that [Gumelar] will find other means to solve this problem. Therefore, there was never an effective order for the arrest of General Bimantoro."
Bimantoro is accused of insubordination for Wahid's June 30th dismissal of him by presidential decree. He has said he accepted his dismissal as "the president's right" but he has refused to hand over command.
As night fell Thursday more than 150 elite Brimob police troops and an armored vehicle surrounded Bimantoro's official and private residences.
One of the troops was quoted by local media as saying they were acting under the order of Brimob commander Inspector General Jusuf Manggabarani to "secure" the houses from "all possible threats either from within and without."
But deputy police spokesman, Senior Commissioner Timbul Sianturi was unable to explain the presence of the troops at his house when contacted by AFP.
He said the police headquarters had received no order to arrest Bimantoro from the presidential palace.
Bimantoro was last seen in public here on Tuesday when he announced he was taking 10 days leave and would head to Singapore for a medical check-up.
Detik.com news reported it had contacted Bimantoro in Singapore by telephone late Thursday, during which he denied defying the president.
"I'm ready to take full responsibility for everything ... I've never refused the president's orders," he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Gumelar said he had no authority to arrest the defiant police chief.
"It cannot be forced... it is not possible for the president to instruct me to make an arrest," Detik.com quoted him saying in a late press briefing.
The order to move against Bimantoro reportedly took Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri by surprise.
"She said: 'What's the use [of the order]'," chairman of the Supreme Advisory Board Ahmad Tirtosudiro said after meeting her.
But Yacoeb, who has been vocal in his support for Bimantoro, laughed off the move by Wahid, known by his nickname Gus Dur.
"My response is ha, ha, ha. I can only laugh," a defiant Yacoeb told the local SCTV in an interview.
Yacoeb, who - along with 101 other police generals - has pledged his support for Bimantoro, also denied that he had ever challenged Wahid.
Wahid, who is fighting moves to oust him from office, relieved Bimantoro of his duties as national police chief on June 2nd after he refused to resign.
Bimantoro had vocally opposed a state of emergency, which Wahid has repeatedly threatened to declare if his political opponents continue with efforts to impeach him next month.
The increasingly isolated president has set an ultimatum for a compromise by July 20th.
Police support would be crucial if Wahid is to carry out his threat.
Bimantoro has said he will hand over command only after parliament approved his dismissal and his replacement, as required under a national assembly decree.
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