Harsh punishment sought for cruel killers

Harsh punishment sought for cruel killers

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Ulemas Council Chairman K.H. Hasan
Basri has condemned the sadistic killing of a woman and her three
children in East Jakarta, and said he hoped that the killer would
receive a harsh punishment.

Hasan Basri said the killing of Eli Kusnaeni, 31, and her
three children, Gilang, 8, Citra, 4, and Rizky, 2, was a heresy
committed by brutal people.

Branding the killers as sadistic and as animals, Hasan Basri
told reporters, "the criminals deserve a harsh sentence for
that."

The four victims were found badly mutilated in their house in
Ciracas, East Jakarta, on Monday.

Those who are lacking spiritual education can easily commit
such criminals acts, he said.

He said sadistic crime has become a social trend in the city.
"Such a murder is only one case."

"God has given us the hearts to feel, the eyes to see and the
ears to hear, but why don't we use them properly?" Hasan asked.

He said that TV stations must stop airing films filled with
excessive violence. He said such films have directly or
indirectly influenced people to commit criminal acts.

Mentality

Zakiah Daradjat, a professor of psychology at the Jakarta
State Islamic Institute, said that the people who committed the
murder were mentally unbalanced.

She said that the people failed to cope with their life
burdens. As a result, their feelings of hatred had grown. The
environment and surroundings had intensified their hatred of
other people. "Violent films may be the part of bad
surroundings," she said.

People, especially those who have less religious education,
will imitate the actions of the actors and take the actors to be
heroes, she said.

Zakiah said she shared the opinion that the criminals involved
must receive severe punishment.

Romulus Sihombing, a councilor with the City Council's
Commission A, in charge of security, said that the law enforcers
must do their best to solve the murder case and arrest the
suspects soon.

"The security officers should professionally take the case as
a challenge," he said, adding that the authority must guarantee
that such cases will not occur in the future.

He suggested that social solidarity in the city community be
enlivened to prevent criminal acts. He said Jakartans must not
too individualistic. People in a community should know each other
to enable them to identify strangers easily, he said.

He said that the community security systems must be activated
because they have been proven effective in preventing
neighborhood crimes.

He said that crime has been caused by, among other things, the
unbalanced situation in society.

"Efforts to maintain public order have frequently hurt
people," he said, citing demolitions and the removal of street
vendors as examples.

He said that harsh punishment may deter people from committing
the criminal acts.(32)