Anti-hoodlum drive succeeding
Anti-hoodlum drive succeeding
By K. Basrie
JAKARTA (JP): The massive police operation against street
hoodlums has turned the city into a tranquil and peaceful
metropolitan.
At night, it is no longer easy to find criminal-looking
persons standing around in groups at certain places, such as bus
terminals, red-light districts, shopping centers and bridge
crossings.
Amid strong evidence of the positive results of the cleaning-
up operation against street criminals in the city was the orderly
atmosphere prevailing during the concert of famous British singer
Phil Collins in North Jakarta on Saturday evening. Not a single
incident was recorded.
A number of residents contacted yesterday by The Jakarta Post
believed that the clean-up operation against hoodlums, locally
known as preman, has temporarily made the city safe round the
clock.
"Last night, I took a public bus to go around the city, from
one terminal to another, until 2 a.m. and found no spooky or
frightening face," Syarif, 32, an employee of a printing firm,
said.
He said that his intention was just to know the real impact of
the recent massive police operation.
According to Nani, 29, a waitress at a restaurant in Central
Jakarta, she no longer asks her husband to pick her up from work
in the late hours.
"I don't know where the naughty boys are at the moment," Nani
said, referring to a group of hoodlums who, previously, always
disturbed her and her colleagues on their way home.
"Those boys always got drunk, tried to touch parts of our
bodies and asked money from passers-by," she said.
On behalf of her friends, Nani said that she had to thank the
authorities, particularly city police personnel, who have carried
out the operation successfully and properly.
Dian, a resident of Bekasi who works in Pasar Minggu, South
Jakarta, commented: "The operation has not only given a better
feeling of security to city residents but has also made us
comfortable when traveling, due to the absence of voluntary
traffic-directing men."
For example, he said, the flow of traffic on Jl. Wolter
Mongisidi in South Jakarta was always heavily congested, caused
by the conflicting and incorrect instructions given by these men.
"Today, everybody can see the vehicles on that road moving
smoothly with little congestion," Dian said.
Syarif said: "I hope the situation will be like this for
good."
The massive operation has been carried out intensively by
police, particularly following the attack on two police officers
at the crowded Blok M shopping center in South Jakarta early this
month.
According to police data, a total of 6,755 people, believed to
have acted as street hoodlums, have been caught in the last three
weeks from many parts in and around the city.
Some of them have been released after being identified, some
have been sent to court for illegal possession of sharp weapons,
while others were sent to take a course on military discipline
and general skills.
"In other words, we have to thank the group of hoodlums at
Blok M, who attacked the police officers, because the operation
was mainly carried out intensively only after the incident,"
Pujianto, 35, a pub singer in West Jakarta, said jokingly.