Guns for sale
Do guns kill? No. People do.Catchy words, which those who are involved in the illegal sale of guns could use to justify their actions. After midnight on Monday, in its interactive program Midnight Life, privately run station MetroTV interviewed an illegal gun supplier and a buyer. The supplier, using the pseudonym of Anton, lives in Los Angeles, USA, while the buyer -- the interviewer called him Jimmy -- lives in Jakarta.
The supplier, around 30 years old, said that he started his illegal business in 1996, when he was about 17. He said he bought the guns in Europe and smuggled them into Kalimantan via Malaysia, claiming he had "friends" in several Southeast Asian countries.
The safest way to bring in the guns was by ground transportation, he said, adding that he had never found chance encounters with Indonesian police officers on the borders a problem. "From 1996 to 1998 I sold around 50 guns, mostly Colt 45s," he said.
When a home viewer phoned to join the interview, to ask whether he (the supplier) ever felt guilty about causing trouble by making gun ownership possible for everybody, Anton merely said "no", arguing that that was his business.
Jimmy said, in another live interview, that his customers were people of a certain class who lived in Jakarta. "It would be unethical for me to reveal their profession." He said that the guns he had sold were usually smuggled from Taiwan or Singapore. He said he did not know what his customers used their guns for.
A criminologist has said that security in the capital city is at stake, due to the rampant illegal sale of guns, which involves military and police officers.
On Aug. 19, two military officers were involved in a fight after an alleged transaction of guns belonging to the Indonesian Army. Several members of the Army were also punished for selling guns to the separatist group Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
A police captain has been dismissed and sentenced to three years imprisonment for selling five guns.
The involvement of police and military officers in the illegal gun business proves that the business is extremely lucrative. The business has triggered the uncontrolled use of guns among civilians, including for crime.
Indonesia still uses Law No. 12/1951 to control the illegal sale of guns. According to the law, those found guilty of smuggling or illegally manufacturing guns may risk the death penalty or -- at least -- 20 years in jail. Ownership of firearms is permitted in Indonesia under very strict regulations.
Despite the death penalty, illegal gun traders continue to do business. Many of them, like Anton, remain free. So, there must be something wrong with the way in which the law is enforced.
The police or military usually refer to officers involved in such crimes as oknum, meaning that they have given their profession a bad name. While the institution tries to wash their hands clean of responsibility, the oknum's behavior reflects poor management within it. Thus, only internal action can prevent the emergence of more oknum.
It is possible that police or military oknum are involved in the illegal businesses run by Anton and Jimmy. The military and police must have the courage to weed out bad seeds, before they conduct operations to enforce the law.
If no police or military officers are involved in the illegal gun business, then what is stopping them from apprehending people like Anton and Jimmy?
If things are so out of hand, people may well wonder, why doesn't the government totally ban gun ownership among civilians?