Clash at Manggarai

Although Jakartans are certainly no strangers to civil unrest, the brawl that pitted two neighborhoods in the Manggarai area of South Jakarta against each other last weekend has drawn our attention once again to the growing social problems our overcrowded metropolis is facing.

This latest violence left two people dead and scores of others wounded. At least eight houses were burned or damaged. Many of the more peace-loving residents of the two neighborhoods -- Mentengjaya and Matramanjaya -- chose to flee and abandon their homes for several days rather than live in the subsequent atmosphere of tension and fear hanging over the area.

To date, even local residents are finding it difficult to explain precisely how this latest brawl began, or what exactly sparked it. All that both locals and outsiders seem to unanimously agree on is that although fights between the two neighborhoods were not uncommon -- indeed, they seem to have become more or less a tradition over past years -- this latest incident is the worst to have occurred so far.

Jakarta's deputy governor for administrative affairs, Abdul Kahfi, has ordered his office to conduct an investigation of the incident in an effort to pinpoint the source of the trouble and thereby help formulate effective preventive measures for the future.

But while the exact cause of last weekend's violence has yet to be determined, the authorities seem to agree that though Manggarai's problems are much the same as those of most low- income neighborhoods in the city -- that is, overcrowding and poor living standards -- the existence of organized bands of youths in this particular area may have been a contributing factor.

Even so, though neighborhood brawls have become somewhat routine in the area, a clear and rather frightening change in the pattern of the violence appears to have taken place. Whereas in previous years fights were restricted to individuals or small groups which could be easily contained, much larger groups are at present involved. In essence, the individual fights have turned into neighborhood battles.

What all this seems to signify is that what sociologists refer to as the subculture of violence has contributed to the aggravation of the already poor and precarious conditions in the Manggarai area. It is fortunate that the authorities seem to be well aware of the dangers of such a situation. South Jakarta Mayor Pardjoko, has proposed, among other things, thinning out the area's population by building low-cost apartments and resettling people elsewhere.

Whatever the case, Manggarai's problems are clearly only one manifestation of Jakarta's complex social problems. To a lesser or greater degree, the same problems exist in the many other poor neighborhoods scattered across the city. Building better housing facilities, cleaning up neighborhoods and resettling people to seek a better life elsewhere are commendable solutions -- if the money can be found in this current crisis.

For the present, it seems that the most effective short-term solution to Jakarta's community problems might be to call on neighborhood associations to do their utmost to improve living conditions in their area with the help, of course, of the city administration.