'Police not acting on kidnappings'

Following the murder of businessman Boedyharto Angsono and his bodyguard, police have been seen as doing everything in their power to find the killers. At the same time, a series of sensational and horrific kidnappings have been in the headlines, but the police have been viewed as lax in their efforts to investigate these crimes. A number of residents told The Jakarta Post the police did not really care when it came to crimes affecting the poor.

Laila, not her real name, 29, works at a company in South Jakarta. She lives with her son in Halim Perdanakusumah, East Jakarta:

I think the number of kidnappings is increasing because the police ignore them.

Perhaps the kidnapping cases are not seen as lucrative. It would be different if the abducted children were from rich families and the cases involved hundreds of millions of rupiah in ransom. I'm sure then the police would be eager to investigate the cases.

Everybody knows that sometimes police investigations depend on money. If it will not benefit them financially, the police are reluctant to bother with an investigation, I guess.

Compared to the police investigation of the shooting of the president of PT Asaba and his bodyguard, the police have done nothing about the kidnappings.

The police are enthusiastic to investigate the shooting because it deals with a rich person.

Besides, the media has blown up the case so much that the police will do their best to find the killers.

Yos, 32, works at a company in East Jakarta. He lives in Kayu Putih, East Jakarta, with his husband and daughter:

People believe that the police are only serious about those cases that will benefit them.

The kidnappings are seen as minor cases because the victims come from poor families.

It is different with the assassination of the PT Asaba president. Everyone has heard about this case from the media. All this media coverage has encouraged the police to take real action.

In addition, the case involves a rich and important person. The police don't want to see their already bad reputation suffer even more by failing to solve the murder.

Maybe they will be careful in dealing with money because of the media scrutiny. Reputation is far more important than money in this case.

Aman, not his real name, 56, is a sidewalk vendor in Petamburan, Central Jakarta. He lives nearby with his wife and two children:

I am sad that nothing is being done to catch the kidnappers. People generally cannot rely on the police.

In reality, the police don't do anything about thugs and crooks. They let them operate freely. I have seen it many times, police officers looking the other way for these criminals for a little money.

The police don't seem to know how to deal with the kidnappings, maybe because they are difficult to solve and aren't lucrative.

Maybe they think they won't benefit financially from investigating the kidnappings.

It is different in the shooting of the businessman. He was rich and his family is likely to provide financial support for the investigation.

That motivates the police to take serious action to find the killers.

Also, everybody knows about the murder because the media has reported on it so much and has watched the performance of the police.

They are afraid of all this media coverage, I guess. So they are serious about finding the killers.

-- Leo Wahyudi S.