Planning for security<\/p>\n
It seems the authorities meant business when they assured the
\npublic earlier this month that the campaign against street
\nhoodlums would continue for as long as they remained a public
\nscourge. Jakartans have been assured that the campaign is no whim
\nof the moment spurred by the death of a police cadet some time
\nago. And true enough, reports of new arrests of preman continue
\nto appear on the pages of newspapers almost every day.<\/p>\n
In the mayoralty of West Jakarta alone, for example, at least
\n116 hoodlums were reported arrested on Tuesday in an operation
\ncode-named Operasi Kilat (Operation Blitz). With their arrest,
\nthe number of suspected hoodlums arrested in West Jakarta since
\nthe beginning of the campaign on March 8 has reportedly reached
\nat least 1,530, and some of them have been sent to rehabilitation
\ncenters in the city.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the offensive against the preman street
\nhoodlums has in some cases taken turns which to some observers
\nmust seem a bit unusual, to say the least. According to one
\nnewspaper, for instance, more than a thousand street hoodlums
\ngathered in front of the offices of the Minister for Youth
\nAffairs and Sports this week to pledge their readiness to help
\nkeep order and \"uphold rightfulness\" in this city. They also
\npledged to \"uphold, defend and practice Pancasila and the 1945
\nConstitution\".<\/p>\n
Duly impressed, the minister, according to the report, hailed
\nthe pledge made by the hoodlums, whom he called \"human beings who
\nfailed in life, but have now risen to travel the rightful path\".
\nTherefore, according to the minister, they deserved to be given
\nproper guidance by the agencies concerned.<\/p>\n
Guidance, of course, has already been given to at least some
\nof the hoodlums caught in the operations. As has been reported,
\n569 hoodlums have been selected to undergo a two-week training
\ncourse at police and military training centers. Of that number,
\n419 will join courses at the city infantry military regiment
\ntraining center in Condet, East Jakarta, while 150 have been sent
\nto the State Police School at Lido, Sukabumi, West Java.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, various ideas have been offered to take further
\ncare of those now in training. It has been suggested that some of
\nthem be offered employment at various companies and that others
\nbe enlisted in the national transmigration program.<\/p>\n
Such tokens of compassion for people who are regarded by many
\nas social outcasts are of course highly laudable. Not too
\nsurprisingly, however, the reactions from the public to all of
\nthis have been varied. Some trained professionals have expressed
\ndoubts over the effectiveness of trying to instill social
\ndiscipline in street-hardened hoodlums by giving them military
\ntraining.<\/p>\n
Criticism has come from other quarters as well. A parking
\nattendant in South Jakarta, for example, was strictly against
\ngiving hoodlums free clothing, food and training while \"there are
\nso many poor people in this city who have never committed a
\nsingle crime and badly need a training course in order to make a
\nbetter living\".<\/p>\n
We believe that the important question in this case is not
\nwhether or not it is right to give street hoodlums training and
\nshelter. Rather, it is the fact that, as in so many other
\ninstances before, there seems to be no well thought out
\ncomprehensive plan in this whole operation. Two weeks of military
\ntraining seem hardly enough to change the kind of easygoing
\nmentality that drives some people to try to find shortcuts to a
\nmore prosperous life. Even more importantly, it does nothing to
\nimprove the social and demographic conditions that lie at the
\nbase of the problem.<\/p>\n
We are all for getting hoodlums off the streets. We only hope
\nthat the authorities in charge will soon come up with a
\nconvincing overall plan that takes care of all the aspects of the
\nproblem that are involved. Otherwise, it may not be long before
\nwe find ourselves back on square one.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/planning-for-security-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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