Mei Amelia, Jakarta – The Kebayoran Baru sectoral police have questioned a clothing trader in the Block M shopping district of South Jakarta for selling T-shirts with pictures of the hammer-and-sickle.
Based on the results of the questioning, no indications were found that the trader was spreading treason (maker).
“For the moment it’s just being investigated, there are no indications of maker, according to his confession he didn’t know anything and there was no word PKI [Indonesian Communist Party] on it, just a picture of a hammer-and-sickle”, Kebayoran Baru sectoral police commander Ary Purwanto told Detik.com on Monday May 9.
Police secured six T-shirts from the trader with the word ‘KREATOR’ on which was found the hammer-and-sickle picture. According to the trader, he has been selling the T-shirts at his shop for the last three months.
“According to the trader, the T-shirts didn’t sell. They’ve been there (on sale) for around three months”, Purwanto said.
According to the owner, the T-shirts were bought from the internet. “He got them from the internet, there is a musical group ‘Kreator’ on the internet. But we don’t know if the musical group exists or not”, he continued.
Purwanto could not confirm whether or not there was a link between the sale of the T-shirts and information circulating related to the anniversary of the birth of the PKI.
“We haven’t found any indications in that direction. The owner also doesn’t know because it was just a picture of a hammer-and-sickle, there was no word PKI”, he said. He added that police secured the T-shirts in order to follow up on information circulating on social media.
“Of course, that is precisely why were we able to secure those two people it was because we searched for info circulating on medsos [social media], whether or not if fulfilled the elements [of a crime] or not. This is just a case of T-shirts with pictures of a hammer-and-sickle but they didn’t know”, he explained.
The two people, an employee and trader at Block M on Jl Melawai in Kebayoran Baru, were taken to the Kebayoran Baru sectoral police because they were selling T-shirts with pictures of a hammer-and-sickle on the afternoon of Sunday May 8. (mei/fdn)
[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was Polisi Minta Keterangan Penjual Kaus Bergambar Palu Arit, Belum Ada Indikasi Makar.]
