A game called raid<\/p>\n
Overpopulation and urbanization problems continue to be a
\nheadache for the Jakarta administration. Today, the city is still
\nlooking for an effective and humanistic solution.<\/p>\n
The problem is not only due to imbalanced development in many
\nregions and the population's high mobility, but also due to the
\nJakarta administration's poor implementation of its operation by
\npublic order officers.<\/p>\n
That is why there have been so many fruitless attempts to curb
\nurbanization and why these attempts have provoked protest from
\nvarious members of society.<\/p>\n
There has been a lot of trial and error in this business and
\ntomorrow will be no better as long as officials do not learn from
\nexperience. Officials have always given self-justifying answers
\nto criticism and tried to defend errant public order officers.<\/p>\n
Checking a citizen's ID card may be legal but what about
\nprosecuting those without travel documents as happened earlier
\nthis week? Many have said it was a blatant act which
\ninconvenienced -- if not victimized -- innocent people.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, 182 people were netted in an operation in West
\nJakarta conducted by the City Population Agency. They were tried
\non the spot for their failure to produce ID cards. Among those
\nnetted were students from other provinces on vacation here. They
\nfailed to produce travel documents or documents from neighborhood
\nchiefs of where they were staying in the city.<\/p>\n
The full legality of this week's operation has been questioned
\nby head of the City Council and former chief of the Jakarta
\nPolice, Maj. Gen. MH Ritonga.<\/p>\n
Reacting to criticism of this week's operation, head of the
\nCity Population Agency said "the officers who netted the people
\nwithout travel documents might have committed some errors or did
\nnot have adequate knowledge about the rules". This statement does
\nnot seem very logical, especially coming from the operation's
\nleader.<\/p>\n
Another official said Tuesday there was no reason for people
\nto complain about the difficulty of processing ID cards in
\nJakarta. But victims of the operation and other longtime
\nresidents here have long fretted about city officers imposing
\nillegal levies on those applying for new ID cards or those
\napplying for an extension of their old ones.<\/p>\n
The graft has apparently been carried out so systematically
\nthat those affected can find no way to register their complaints.<\/p>\n
If we study the operation, the problem is not in its legality
\nbut rather the method. The wrong system has been repeated and
\nimproperly applied. It seems that after 50 years of running this
\ncity, officials have yet to find a civilized way to treat its
\ncitizens.<\/p>\n
Last year, students in Kuningan, South Jakarta, protested a
\nmidnight crackdown on allegedly illegal residents after public
\norder officers raided boarding houses in the area without
\npermission, forcing people into the street and rudely asking them
\nto produce ID cards.<\/p>\n
If we were to retrace these raids back to the 1970s we would
\nfind the list very long. It is hoped, therefore, that city
\nauthorities make this week's operation their last.<\/p>\n
It comes as no surprise that people beg the government to
\nconduct operations against public order officers, who like to
\nprey on residents, especially less-privileged members of our
\nsociety.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/a-game-called-raid-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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