JP/3/Ban
Mixed reviews over ban on begadang
JAKARTA (JP): Laymen have hailed the Jakarta Military Command's decision to ban begadang -- the local slang for staying up and talking all night -- while the experts have questioned the legal basis of the regulation.
"We one hundred percent agree with the regulation, since many of begadang youngsters get drunk and disturb the peace," a anonymous Bekasi resident was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.
Maj. Gen. Hendroprijono, chief of the City Military Command in his capacity as chief of the Jakarta chapter of the agency for Coordinating of Defense and National Security, declared Tuesday that he would do his best not to allow youngsters to gather in public places late in the evening.
The prohibition, he said, was imposed because the order and security in the greater Jakarta has reached what he called "a frightening condition".
Some Jakartans voiced their agreement with Hendro yesterday saying the delinquent youngsters would probably commit crimes if they stayed up and talked all night while drinking alcoholic drinks.
Hendro is a popular name of Hendroprijono.
"They (the begadang youngsters) are all unemployed. They make trouble in their surroundings," said Subarno, a Depok resident.
"They all get half-drunk before either extorting passers-by or eating and drinking without paying at the food shops in their neighborhood," grumbled a Tangerang resident named Yanto.
On the occasion of declaring the prohibition on begadang, Hendro also announced the launching of a large-scale, anti-crime operation code-named Operasi Bersih (Operation Cleansing), involving around 16,000 personnel, from the army, police, navy, and air force.
According to Hendro, they would survey all areas with high level of criminal activity and confiscate sharp weapons from people in all public places.
General
However, experts reactions have been less favorable across the board than that of the general public.
Frans Winarta, secretary of the (YLBHI) Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, and Adrianus Meliala, a noted criminologist from the University of Indonesia questioned the legal basis of the ban on begadang.
"What is its legal basis? If the country was in a state of war, the regulation would be acceptable. But, we are now at peace, aren't we?" Frans told The Jakarta Post
"Staying up all night and talking is, I think, the right of all people as long as they're not making trouble," added Adrianus.
Both said with the ban, the military was only treating the symptoms of the crimes but not dealing with the causes.
They felt that the crimes had their roots in such problems as unemployment, consumerism, lack of education, urbanization, social disparities, etc.
"The begadang youngsters are mostly, if not all, unemployed. If they have work, I'm sure they shall stop staying out all night. Who shall be the one to give them work?" Adrianus asked.
Both also questioned whether or not the military had some kind of self-interest in banning the begadang in view that a military member Brig. Gen. Toga Manahan Franklin Tampubolon was recently killed by some begadang youngsters.
"As far as I know, the recent, horrible crimes that have taken place, including the murder of Herbin Hutagalung's family in Pondok Gede, the rape and killing of a kindergarten school girl in Ancol, and the murder of a female doctor in West Jakarta, were not committed by begadang youngsters but hardened criminals," said Frans. (jsk)