Planning for security
Planning for security
It seems the authorities meant business when they assured the public earlier this month that the campaign against street hoodlums would continue for as long as they remained a public scourge. Jakartans have been assured that the campaign is no whim of the moment spurred by the death of a police cadet some time ago. And true enough, reports of new arrests of preman continue to appear on the pages of newspapers almost every day.
In the mayoralty of West Jakarta alone, for example, at least 116 hoodlums were reported arrested on Tuesday in an operation code-named Operasi Kilat (Operation Blitz). With their arrest, the number of suspected hoodlums arrested in West Jakarta since the beginning of the campaign on March 8 has reportedly reached at least 1,530, and some of them have been sent to rehabilitation centers in the city.
In the meantime, the offensive against the preman street hoodlums has in some cases taken turns which to some observers must seem a bit unusual, to say the least. According to one newspaper, for instance, more than a thousand street hoodlums gathered in front of the offices of the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports this week to pledge their readiness to help keep order and "uphold rightfulness" in this city. They also pledged to "uphold, defend and practice Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution".
Duly impressed, the minister, according to the report, hailed the pledge made by the hoodlums, whom he called "human beings who failed in life, but have now risen to travel the rightful path". Therefore, according to the minister, they deserved to be given proper guidance by the agencies concerned.
Guidance, of course, has already been given to at least some of the hoodlums caught in the operations. As has been reported, 569 hoodlums have been selected to undergo a two-week training course at police and military training centers. Of that number, 419 will join courses at the city infantry military regiment training center in Condet, East Jakarta, while 150 have been sent to the State Police School at Lido, Sukabumi, West Java.
Meanwhile, various ideas have been offered to take further care of those now in training. It has been suggested that some of them be offered employment at various companies and that others be enlisted in the national transmigration program.
Such tokens of compassion for people who are regarded by many as social outcasts are of course highly laudable. Not too surprisingly, however, the reactions from the public to all of this have been varied. Some trained professionals have expressed doubts over the effectiveness of trying to instill social discipline in street-hardened hoodlums by giving them military training.
Criticism has come from other quarters as well. A parking attendant in South Jakarta, for example, was strictly against giving hoodlums free clothing, food and training while "there are so many poor people in this city who have never committed a single crime and badly need a training course in order to make a better living".
We believe that the important question in this case is not whether or not it is right to give street hoodlums training and shelter. Rather, it is the fact that, as in so many other instances before, there seems to be no well thought out comprehensive plan in this whole operation. Two weeks of military training seem hardly enough to change the kind of easygoing mentality that drives some people to try to find shortcuts to a more prosperous life. Even more importantly, it does nothing to improve the social and demographic conditions that lie at the base of the problem.
We are all for getting hoodlums off the streets. We only hope that the authorities in charge will soon come up with a convincing overall plan that takes care of all the aspects of the problem that are involved. Otherwise, it may not be long before we find ourselves back on square one.