Govt can do nothing against thuggery, say activists

M. Taufiqurrahman and Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The society has to count on itself in the war against the hoodlums and their organized mob bosses as the government, which should lead the campaign, reaps benefits from the presence of thugs instead, an activist allege.

Chairwoman of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), Wardah Hafildz, told The Jakarta Post last Saturday that because of the unwillingness of the city government to get rid of the gangs, the campaign must be promoted by the society in collaboration with the press.

"How can you expect the government officials to wage a campaign against themselves?" Wardah said.

She accused the government officials of not only using thugs to meet their political ends, they even act like thug bosses at times.

"The way that the city administration drives streets vendors away clearly indicates that it practices hoodlumism," Wardah said, referring to the use of violence and extortion in the eviction of street vendors.

She also cited the example of how Governor Sutiyoso was reportedly using bands of thugs to counter protesters against his candidacy in the last gubernatorial election.

Top city officials, she said, also received money from people who operate underworld businesses.

She said it was already public knowledge that some city officials were already "in the pockets" of powerful mafia bosses.

Wardah acknowledged that the city administration had many times conducted raids against thugs, but she was dissatisfied with such a campaign as it was aimed only at small-time thugs.

"Raids against street thugs are but a superficial measure, for which the city administration appeases the public's anger against rampant thuggery," she said.

Despite the huge number of thugs in the city, Sutiyoso admitted that the city had no program to deal with organized crime and their henchmen, saying that it was the duty of the police. He said that the administration would recruit more civilians to help the police, as they apparently cannot handle the situation with their current numbers.

Currently, the city has some 3,000 civilian police assistants (Banpol) which are managed by the City Public Order Agency.

The head of urban community division of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto, said that the city administration had no political will in eradicating hoodlumism.

"As a matter of fact, the city administration, with the information from police and intelligence sources, already has a complete list of people who can be categorized as thugs.

"But, apparently it is reluctant to start an all-out campaign to wipe out thugs from the city," Tubagus told the Post.

He said that the city public order officers who were supposed to deal with thugs, were deployed instead to evict street vendors.

"It shows that the government have no real plans about how to deal with thugs," he said.

Thuggery had developed due to the absence of security in society, and certain strongmen controlled different areas and demanded payments for all manner of goods and services, Tubagus said.

Organized gangs have increasingly been creating unrest among the people.

Suradjiman, 30, a taxi driver who resides in Pejaten, South Jakarta with his wife and his only son, said that extortion by hoodlums had added more problems to his daily life.

"I sometimes have to give away Rp 1,000 to thugs who extort me, which is probably very little for rich people, but it is worth 10 percent of my total daily earnings," he said in dismay.

He was so angry with the thugs that he said that there would be no other way to stop them except to shoot and kill them.