Most residents reluctant to join neighborhood watch

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In a bid to safeguard their areas, a task which the police are either unwilling or unable to do, some Jakarta residents take part in a self-protection scheme in their respective neighborhood units, also known as siskamling, but others prefer to hire security guards in their areas.

"It is too tiring to participate in the siskamling as we must walk around the complex every night until dawn, and yet I am supposed to remain fresh before going to work the next morning," said Susanto, 25, a resident of Jatinegara, East Jakarta.

Susanto who works at a private company in Sunter, North Jakarta said he preferred his neighborhood unit to hire security guards to ensure security in the neighborhood.

Susanto said that the residents were only required to pay Rp 10,000 a month per family. The total security fund collected from the residents is used to hire four security guards.

Concurring with Susanto, Harry A. Robbot, a chief of a neighborhood unit in Kelapa Gading housing estate in North Jakarta remarked that his neighborhood unit had hired 40 security guards to safeguard the compound.

"Every resident must pay a security fee of Rp 75,000 a month to pay the security guards in accordance with the minimum regional wage (UMR)," said Harry.

Working in three shifts, Harry said, those security guards were tasked with either checking the incoming and outgoing visitors or vehicles passing the entrance gate or to patrol around the complex.

However, Harry complained that despite the large number of security guards and police in the city, they had all failed to ensure security in the neighborhood.

"Last week, a house here became a target of theft while the family was away. Fortunately, they only lost their TV set, while three cars parking in the garage remained untouched," Harry said.

In order to safeguard their homes, many are reluctantly doing it themselves, or siskamling, as a way to deal with the increasing crime, which the city police seems powerless to handle.

Meanwhile, Onny, a resident of Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta lamented the fact that the residents could not rely on private security guards or the police just to safeguard one compound.

"Not all residents are willing to pay higher security fees so we cannot recruit more security guards. That's why we cannot give them the responsibility," said Onny, who added that each family had to pay Rp 30,000 per month for private security.

Onny revealed that his neighborhood unit had planned to revive an occasional siskamling to help supplement the security due to limited number of trustworthy security guards.

"On holidays and weekends, we will handle the night patrols, while on working days we let the security guards do it," Onny said.

Onny said the siskamling also was aimed at stimulating a greater "sense of solidarity" among residents as the residents would get acquainted with one another.

Meanwhile, in communities of low-income residents like those in Radio Dalam, South Jakarta, security is not being taken care of by anyone.

"There is no night patrol here. We don't have any security personnel as we cannot afford to hire them," Triwahyudi, a Radio Dalam resident said.

However, Triwahyudi said that the security condition was relatively good thanks to the "crowded population" in his community.

"The condition of the densely-populated area here has deterred thieves or robbers as they would be an easy target for mobbing," said Triwahyudi, referring to the peculiarly Indonesian form of vigilantism or "mob justice", wherein a suspected thief is attacked and killed, and usually burned, by a large crowd when caught in the act.

He recalled a time when a suspected pickpocket was mobbed and was nearly torched by angry locals following an attempt to steal a cellular phone from a resident. Most of the people consider this the only recourse, because they do not feel they can rely on police protection.