Jakarta needs strict, consistent law enforcement

Jakarta needs strict, consistent law enforcement

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration should improve law
enforcement to overcome the numerous social problems emerging
along with rapid economic development, two observers say.

The advice comes from renowned psychologist Sarlito Wirawan
and Bambang Widjoyanto, the operations director of the Indonesian
Legal Aid Foundation.

Both Sarlito and Bambang expressed concern over law
enforcement in Jakarta, which has about 10 million people and an
ever-widening gulf between rich and poor.

They were interviewed in connection with the city's 468th
anniversary on June 22.

"What we need, in order to alleviate the various social
problems, is even-handed law enforcement," said Sarlito, who
teaches psychology at the University of Indonesia.

He said that during former governor Ali Sadikin's term the law
was enforced indiscriminately in respect of both ordinary and
powerful people.

"For example, people were allowed to open casinos as long as
they did not break any law. But now? The administration is
swaying with the wind," he said.

Sadikin, a retired marine lieutenant-general, now well-known
as an ardent critic of the government, was governor of Jakarta
from 1967 until 1977. He is remembered for his innovative ideas
about Jakarta's development.

According to Sarlito, Jakarta has the potential to become one
of the world's foremost cities.

"The traffic here is still better than, for example, in
Bangkok or Manila. Hotels are good, albeit expensive. Many coffee
shops are open 24 hours. Transportation is okay," he said.

He ridiculed suggestions that Jakarta be closed to newcomers
in order to check population growth. He argued that one of the
best ways to curb people's movement to urban centers like Jakarta
was for the central bureaucracy to give more autonomy to local
governments.

Meanwhile, Bambang said that law enforcement in the city was
appalling.

He said that security authorities are "very harsh" when
dealing with crimes involving ordinary people, but otherwise when
handling crimes involving people from the middle and upper
classes.

In a recent crackdown on street violence, for instance, the
authorities arrested thousands of suspected street hoodlums but
in the crackdown on drug trafficking -- which is generally
believed to involve individuals in powerful positions -- only a
few arrests were made, he said.

"The authorities also increasingly use violence in dealing
with common criminals. We often hear that suspected criminals
have been shot because they were 'trying to escape'" he said.

Bambang said that land disputes in the city were on the rise
as development continued. People in the suburbs were being forced
to surrender their land, often the source of their livelihoods,
in order to make way for projects, he said.

"Where demolition (of people's homes) is concerned, people
only think about the compensation and never consider the question
of human dignity," he said.

In some areas, such as Kemayoran and Manggarai, it was
consortia of private companies -- not the state -- that were
displacing residents, he added.

"They (the people) should have been involved in the
developments in order that they, too, might have derived some
benefit from the projects without losing their homes," he said.

The administration's efforts to accommodate the displaced
people had also given rise to various legal problems, he said,
because of the legal uncertainty surrounding the land acquisition
process.

Numerous residents interviewed by the Jakarta Post said they
were concerned about traffic congestion, bad public
transportation, seasonal flooding, corruption and the lack of
public telephones.

But they were doubtful that the host of social problems in
Jakarta would deter people from poor areas flocking to the
capital in the hope of prospering here. (hbk/bsr/29/pan)