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.