Ridding the country of hoodlums takes time: Criminologists

JAKARTA (JP): Two leading criminologists said on Friday that getting rid of hoodlums, especially in public places like bus terminals and traditional markets, was impossible at the moment as long as people had no respect for security officers.

Johannes Sutoyo and Muhammad Mustofa of the University of Indonesia (UI) told The Jakarta Post and Kompas daily that it would take a long time to free the country of hoodlums as the problem was very complex.

The two made the remarks in response to the eruption of a major clash at the Kampung Rambutan bus terminal in East Jakarta on Wednesday evening, which was sparked by a quarrel between a group of pickpockets and a bus crew. Two men died in the incident.

Johannes, a lecturer on the post-graduate program of social science, said that it was natural and had become a kind of tradition that bus terminals were used as hoodlums' hangouts.

"The terminal doesn't merely function as a center of the normal people's activities, but is also attractive for others such as hoodlums to do business especially of the informal variety.

"There therefore occurs a kind of 'cooperation' or 'modus vivendi' among drivers, vendors, terminal authorities and hoodlums. It has become a public secret that the hoodlums' existence is backed by the local authorities so that they enjoy mutual benefits," he said.

Mustofa also said that it was typical in Indonesia that "hoodlums are the authority that 'governs' the informal sector in the terminal compound. And in Indonesia the terminal has become a place of origin of organized crimes."

Both Johannes and Mustofa said that the only way to eradicate hoodlums was through strict law enforcement applied in stages, starting especially with disciplining the delinquent authorities and in the final analysis the hoodlums should not be given the chance to operate again.

And to reach that stage we should start from the beginning again, Johannes said.

"We should start from the bottom again, such as with the reapplication of the terminal regulations on usage of space and the upholding of discipline.

"And the local authorities and other related parties should start to abide by the regulations and be consistent," he said.

Commenting on the unrest at the Kampung Rambutan bus terminal, Governor Sutiyoso urged security officers on Thursday to totally eliminate hoodlums at the city's terminals.

Mustofa said that the city administration and other related institutions should start a new system in which they periodically rotate officers assigned to be in charge of bus terminals, including the terminal heads and security officers, to prevent collusion with hoodlums.

"Officers who are given the chance to manage a certain area for a long time tend to abuse the power," he said.

Mustofa, who is also a lecturer at the university, said that for a long time people had been waiting for the application of legal certainty, but the authorities failed to bring it about because people had no clear information about those who were arrested for crimes and whether they were really punished or not.

"What happened in Kampung Rambutan terminal was the result of legal uncertainties. For instance many people have no interest in reporting to the terminal authority if they are robbed because the authority usually does not react immediately and seems not to take the case seriously," he said.

According to him, it was time now to take stern action against hoodlums because people are disgusted by their conduct.

Meanwhile, the situation at the Kampung Rambutan terminal had returned to normal as could be seen from the long queues of public transport vehicles at the terminal entrance.

Privately run bus company Mayasari Bakti's director Azis Rismaya Mahpud said that more than 100 out of the company's 500 buses were in operation.

"None of them is guarded by soldiers any longer," he told the Post. On Thursday every bus departing from the terminal was secured by four soldiers in anticipation of possible attacks by the hoodlums.

Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman said that soldiers and police officers have been withdrawn from guard duty on public buses as he believed that the drivers and their crews could themselves anticipate assaults.

Noegroho also said that police had questioned eight people believed to have been involved in the dispute which triggered the clashes in the bus terminal.

However, he declined to comment when asked about speculation that security officers backed the operation of the pickpockets at the terminal.

"If there are any of the public who know about these alleged aiders and abettors, they should just tell me," he said. (ind/emf)