'Bondo Nekad' is another dimension of hooliganism<\/p>\n
By Mochtar Buchori<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The soccer match between Mitra of Surabaya and
\nMastrans of Bandung 10 days ago was marred by hooliganism
\nprimarily by Mitra supporters from Surabaya.<\/p>\n
When Mitra was defeated in a penalty kickoff, its supporters
\nwent wild, stoning cars and buildings in the streets as they
\nmoved from Senayan stadium to the railway station, snatching food
\nfrom street-side stalls without paying and then boarding trains
\nto Surabaya without purchasing tickets. On their homeward journey
\nthey hurled stones at anything: station platforms, watch houses
\nat crossroads, shops along the track, passing cars and others.<\/p>\n
Who were these people? Were they really hooligans?<\/p>\n
I doubt it. Some of them may be hoodlums or petty gangsters,
\nbut I think the majority were just ordinary people without
\ncriminal records. The Kompas daily reported that the supporters
\nwere young people, and that most of them did not have enough
\nmoney to pay for the trip, let alone buy food and drinks along
\nthe journey. Yet they had decided to go to Jakarta to support
\ntheir favorite team.<\/p>\n
Why? Because they saw the trip as necessary after the mayor of
\nSurabaya suggested that every neighborhood association in the
\ncity send 10 people to Jakarta to support their city team. My
\nguess is that these penniless supporters must have thought the
\nmayor or a group of rich people were going to finance the trip.
\nSo why not join the rally and have some fun?<\/p>\n
The youths proudly called themselves the bondo nekad group,
\nmeaning a group of daring young people with the guts to embark on
\nsomething risky or dangerous. To go to Jakarta, to stay there for
\nat least 15 hours, to go back and forth between the railway
\nstation and Senayan stadium in Jakarta and then to go back to
\nSurabaya without enough money for tickets, food or drinks is a
\n\"very daring\" act indeed. But at the same time it is also very
\nrisky\" and \"very stupid\". Nekad means: risky, stupid guts. The
\nword has a negative connotation, which is a readiness to violate
\nrules and regulations if necessary to accomplish whatever one has
\ndecided to achieve from the outset.<\/p>\n
Bondo nekad roughly translates to only having stupid guts as
\none's capital, as one's driving force for an action. This
\nexpression is usually used to denote an act carried out solely on
\nthe basis of guts, without the support of adequate knowledge,
\nskills or logistics; without the simplest calculation concerning
\nthe risks that may be involved.<\/p>\n
Vandalism by soccer supporters is not a new phenomenon in
\nIndonesia. It has happened many times before. Hurling stones from
\ntrain wagons at anything outside is also not new to Surabaya
\nsoccer fans. This happens every time the Surabaya team is
\ndefeated. This incident has customarily been attributed to
\nfanaticism and a lack of good sportsmanship. But I see a new
\nelement in the latest incident. In earlier incidents soccer fans
\ninvolved in vandalism were people with money to pay for their
\ntrips, food and drink, but last time they were practically-
\nbankrupt youths. To me this is new, something which may reflect a
\nmore serious social situation than just temporary acts of
\nvandalism.<\/p>\n
What makes people commit reckless acts based on stupid guts?
\nSeveral things: Despair is one; disregard for law and order is
\nanother. On these Mitra supporters from Surabaya, I do not think
\nthat despair was the main cause of the vandalism. Despair may be
\na latent factor, but not the main reason.<\/p>\n
I think a temporary sense of collective power was an important
\nfactor in this case. If you are penniless and hungry, you feel
\npowerless when you are alone. But when hundreds of penniless and
\nhungry young people come together, a sense of power emerges. What
\ncan a train conductor do to stop such a group? To call the
\npolice? What can the police do, if there are so many of them? The
\nsheer number is the decisive factor. This group of Surabaya
\nsupporters felt strong and powerful because they had realized how
\nbig a group they were. Their feeling may be enhanced by a vague
\nidea that they were doing the local government a favor: they were
\nresponding to a call by an important government official. This
\ngave them a sense of legitimacy. Backed by this sense of
\nlegitimacy, they considered no one could harm them. They felt
\nwarranted in demanding anything they needed.<\/p>\n
If this hypothesis is correct, it would not be an exaggeration
\nto say we are facing an imminent explosive situation. The number
\nof unemployed young people is alarmingly high in our society. Of
\nthese unemployed youths, many come from families which can no
\nlonger support them. These youths are hungry, penniless and
\nangry. They wander from place to place each day, in search of a
\njob. But jobs are only available to educated people, those who
\ncan speak English and can work a computer. Most of the unemployed
\nyouths do not have these knowledge and skills. So what are their
\nprospects? Nothing! This is a situation of despair.<\/p>\n
This is an ugly description of our society today, but such is
\nthe reality before us, I am afraid. The question is how can we,
\nin this particular social atmosphere, prevent the situations that
\nmake the bondo nekad slogan even more popular with our
\nyoungsters. What must we do to prevent situations that could
\nhurtle our youths toward reckless acts?<\/p>\n
I do not know! But what we need in moments like this is
\nempathy. If each of us has a little bit more empathy toward the
\nless fortunate and the unfortunate many tragedies could be
\naverted.<\/p>\n
True, there are so many crazy and angry people walking our
\nstreets. But we can do something to reduce their craziness and
\ntheir anger. We can do something to reduce the craziness of our
\ntime. We can do something to increase the sanity of our society.<\/p>\n
The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bondo-nekad-is-another-dimension-of-hooliganism-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }