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.