Safety in the urban jungle<\/p>\n
No matter how modern and luminous a large urban center like
\nJakarta becomes, there is no guarantee the public can achieve a
\nsafe and secure environment. If years ago, the citizens of the
\ncapital felt obliged to secure their homes before they went out,
\nnow they must be mindful of their well being on the streets.<\/p>\n
Young unemployed men have now joined the ubiquitous beggars at
\nintersections. The difference being that these youths are not
\nreluctant to resort to threats and force to extort rupiah from
\nunwary passersby.<\/p>\n
The public has become ever more fearful of the danger lurking
\nat street corners. Even road signs placed by the traffic
\nauthorities at U-turns have been exploited by these desperate
\nyouths to impose their own rules in order to collect fees for
\nunsolicited traffic direction services.<\/p>\n
The police force, which has long complained about lack of
\npersonnel, seems powerless to protect the innocent passing
\nthrough certain areas in this sprawling concrete jungle.<\/p>\n
Due to the constraints, the police have become quite good at
\nsolving complicated criminal cases, but have yet to boost their
\nprevention capabilities. And the much-boasted neighborhood
\nsecurity systems can offer no aid in improving the situation.<\/p>\n
Now, once again, the public is shuddering at still another
\nstory of street criminality. Brig. Gen. T. M. F. Tampubolon, an
\nexpert staff member to the Armed Forces commander and a former
\nmember of the elite red-beret Kopassus squad, was brutally killed
\nin a Jakarta street on Monday evening. He died an hour after he
\nwas accosted by knife-wielding men near an intersection in
\nCipinang Muara, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The suspects in the killing are now off the streets. But what
\nabout the unemployed street thugs who congregate at other
\ncrossroads, perpetrating violent crimes against passersby with
\nknives and sickles?<\/p>\n
And it appears that nothing much can be done to keep such
\ntragedies from recurring. This sense of pessimism originates not
\nonly from the constraints faced by the police force, but from the
\nugly reality of the city itself. Given Jakarta's burgeoning
\npopulation, the high rate of urbanization, the density of its
\nneighborhoods, the high unemployment rate, the relative poverty
\nof many of its citizens, it is not surprising that crime, which
\nhas its roots in the above socio-economic conditions, has become
\na persistent problem here.<\/p>\n
This disease threatening our society afflicts us not only
\nbecause the rate of employment has fallen short of the demands
\nfor jobs due to the high population growth, but because of the
\ndrastic gap between the number of the privileged few and the
\nhordes of the poverty stricken. It is an ironic tragedy that
\nwhile the majority of people still face the problem of how to
\nmake the end meets, Jakarta has become home to a society in which
\nthe excessively wealthy freely flaunt their affluence. This
\nmaterialistic way of life goads our unemployed young people to
\nfind the shortest way possible to better living conditions.<\/p>\n
Every day we hear of robberies, car thefts, the mugging of
\nschool children, homicides and rapes occurring in our streets,
\nwith the occasional drug abuse scandal among the more privileged
\nmembers of society coming to light as well.<\/p>\n
It is no wonder that the public is becoming increasingly
\ncynical about any resolution of the criminality dilemma. And with
\nrecent reports of police brutality, the public's frustration with
\nthe law enforcement process borders on a total lack of respect
\nfor all law enforcers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/safety-in-the-urban-jungle-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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