A car is reduced to wreckage after a police station in Ciracas, East Jakarta came under attack by soldiers on August 29, 2020. (Antara Photo/Asprilla Dwi Adha)
MAY 25, 2021
Jakarta. At least 17 soldiers have been slapped with dishonorable discharge after they were found guilty of attacking a police station in East Jakarta, the Indonesian Military said in a statement on Monday.
It said the 17 are part of 67 soldiers who have been court martialled and sentenced to jail terms ranging from 10 to 13 months for the August 29 incident, in which around 100 people vandalized a police station in Ciracas.
A majority of the attackers were soldiers angered by a false claim that a colleague had become a victim of mob attack and was unhappy about how the police handled the case.
They burned cars and smashed glass windows at the police station and also attacked two policemen on patrol earlier during their way to the police station.
A joint investigation found that the soldier in question sustained injuries due to traffic accident and didn’t come under attack, as proven by surveillance camera footage from the scene.
“From the 67 defendants who have been convicted, 48 accepted the verdict, 15 announced an appeal, and four remained undecided,” Court Martial Head Maj. Gen. Abdul Rasyid was quoted as saying in the statement.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Army Chief of Staff General Andika Perkasa offered his apology and vowed stern internal measures against those involved.
“The Army apologizes for the incident that caused damages on innocent civilians and members of the police,” Andika said at that time.
He said he’d rather let go of bad soldiers than to let them “bring shame and dishonor on the Army in violation to their oaths”.
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