Number of thugs down, number of bad cops up
This is the fourth article on thuggery, which the Jakarta administration, police and military have vowed to eradicate in the city.
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The intensive crackdown on thuggery and lawlessness over the past month has apparently brought back the feeling of security to some residents, particularly those living in crime-prone areas.
For others, however, the frequent operations have been seen as a means for unscrupulous officers to get money.
Thirty year old Yanti, who works at a furniture shop in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, for instance, has no more fears of being teased by groups of men hanging out on the street whenever she walks to the Pasar Minggu bus terminal.
"I do feel a different atmosphere. There are less and less men sitting down on the corner of the market or at the bus station. I hope it will be for good," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
A trader at Pasar Minggu market Wahyudi, 41, said that even the group of extorters and thieves who were regulars at the market had not been seen over the past few weeks.
Some commuters expressed similar feelings of relief.
Imelda, 30, who works at a cargo company in North Jakarta, said that she felt more safe now while waiting at a bus shelter in front of the Indonesian Christian University in Cawang, East Jakarta, an area prone to crime.
"I am glad that the police have taken concrete action by directly getting rid of them. Although I can't tell the difference between thugs and good people, I feel more secure now," she told the Post.
Police have arrested over a thousand alleged thugs in several crime-prone areas in Jakarta, including the Cocacola intersection and Cawang in East Jakarta, Tanah Abang and Senen in Central Jakarta, and Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta.
Some people, however, feel that the police have abused their power to get additional income from innocent people.
"They seem to look for our mistakes and are ready to ticket us. Recently, they stopped me, I didn't know what was wrong. They just mentioned several articles of the Criminal Code. Finally, they asked for some money.
"You know, I always feel nervous if I pass a group of police on the street," Sulistyono, an employee of a private bank, told the Post.
He added that his friend, who reported his car missing, was required to hand over money, even before the investigation began.
"And after they found the car, my friend had to pay millions of rupiah to get it back. The thugs may be gone but more powerful uniformed thugs are on the rise," he said.
City police internal affairs chief Sr. Comr. Anwaruddin acknowledged that his office had received more complains against police officers in the last month.
"I don't know why but we received 80 complaints over officers' conduct, four times higher than the previous month's 20 complaints," he told the Post.
Anwaruddin said the complaints varied from blackmail to extortion, rape, bribery and assault.
On Thursday, police held an open-door disciplinary hearing for two police officers accused of blackmailing and raping a sex worker and extorting money from an ojek driver as well as two other police officers for adultery and desertion.