REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Chairman of the FPI Legal Aid Institute, Sugito Atmo Pawiro, admitted that Habib Bahar bin Smith abused two minors for imitating his style and even doing things that damaged his reputation. Acccording to him, Bahar and his legal team had reported the behavior of those two children to the police, but there was no follow-up.

"It turned out that these two fraudsters (children who were abused) have been repeatedly reported by Bahar, but there wasn't any action from the police," Sugito said when confirmed by Republika.co.id on Thursday (Dec 20).

In fact, Sugito explained, the act of cheating and defaming someone was a crime. Sugito said that this blunt legal attitude caused Bahar to handle the problem by himself as he felt that the cases in this country could not all be processed and the police seemed to be picking up cases in handling it.

"I personally admit that Habib Bahar's attitude which was too emotional is wrong, vigilante acts cannot be justified. But none of this will happened if the law run fairly. There is no result without a cause," he said.

The case started from a video uploaded to the internet which shows two children acted as if they were Habib Bahar. They conducted behaviors which should not be carried out by an ulama.

For example, the video recorded a child who was smoking while driving a car with his feet, then asks for money to and fro, and other attitudes again, making bad image of a habib. Apart from all the reasons, Sugito said, he agreed that Habib Bahar was indeed guilty in this position. However, he felt strange, children who acted like thugs were not examined.

He questioned the police as the minors who committed the crime have not been processed legally. "It's like a thief beaten by a resident and then the resident is arrested while the thief is released. Which law justifies something like this?" Sugito said.

If indeed the police have carried out the sentence fairly, Sugito said, the law should be the commander. When Habib Bahar who carried out vigilante acts was arrested, then two children who had repeatedly committed fraud and defamed other people were must also be arrested.

Investigator of the West Java Regional Police Criminal Investigation Directorate has appointed Habib Bahar bin Smith (HBS) as a suspect in the case of alleged abuse of minors. He were immediately arrested after being examined and determined as a suspect.

"He was arrested for the investigation process by the National Police investigators," said spokesperson of West Java Police, Commissioner Trunoyudo Wisnu Andiko to Republika.co.id, on Wednesday (Dec 19), adding that the police are guided by the Criminal Code.

According to Trunoyudo, the investigation of Bahar's case was carried out by police investigators in a professional manner and in accordance with the standard operating procedure. He asserted that the allegations that the case as a criminalization of the ulama was not true.

"We handle it professionally and proportionally. So it is not true that this is the criminalization of ulama," he said.

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