Scholars question disparity as cause of recent riots

JAKARTA (JP): The widespread belief that socioeconomic disparities were to blame for the recent spate of religious and ethnically-sparked riots was challenged yesterday.

Sociopsychologist Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono from University of Indonesia's School of Psychology and political scholar Arbi Sanit said the theory was far from sufficient to explain the riots.

"It is very dangerous to take the issue of socioeconomic disparities or jargon about 'a third party' as the truth if we are to cope with mass violence," Sarlito said in the one-day seminar on mass violence held by the Center for Information and Development Studies.

The seminar discussed the episodes of mob violence that rocked Indonesia Last year.

Maj. Gen. Salim Siregar, representing National Police chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo, said episodes of mass violence had steadily increased over the past three years from eight cases in 1994, to 16 in 1995, and to 27 last year.

Sarlito said socioeconomic inequalities had nothing to do with the riots, given most of them occurred outside Jakarta, where the rich-poor gulf was probably the most obvious.

"Instead, the most serious riots exploded in Situbondo, Tasikmalaya and Sanggau Ledo, small cities with less economic contrasts than Jakarta," he said.

Rioting in the three towns claimed 14 lives.

"If disparities are to blame, the problem will be getting worse rather than coming to an end because the disparities will always remain, even in wealthy countries like the United States," Sarlito added.

Sarlito rejected the repeated claims of military and civilian leaders that certain groups had masterminded the riots, saying the allegations had raised eyebrows because of the absence of evidence.

"This approach is ineffective because security officials will always seek every avenue to prove their vague arguments. Although they managed to arrest suspected masterminds, mass violence remains," Sarlito said.

Government role

Separately, Arbi Sanit shared Sarlito's view, saying accusations that "a third party" or "intellectual actors" were behind the riots proved to be groundless.

"It is not easy to organize and mobilize people to take part in a riot as it would take a large sum of money as well as careful and thorough planning," he told a discussion on rioting, organized by the Association of Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Advocacy yesterday.

"The military and government officials mostly triggered the rioting," he said.

He supported his analysis with statistics on 11 riots last year, six of which were triggered by security officers' misconduct, one by an Indonesian of Chinese descent who tortured his maid and four by brawls between individuals.

Arbi also challenged allegations that the riots were engineered.

"The rioting happened spontaneously and was far from being engineered," he said.

Sarlito suggested law enforcement officials improved their professionalism in anticipation of other riots. "So they can no longer accuse and arrest people carelessly," he said.

He said the authorities should control all means of mass mobilization. The government's decision to ban motor rallies during the campaigning period was understandable, he said.

He also called on government officials to avoid making unclear statements, which could start unhealthy rumors.

Psychiatrist Dadang Hawari said mass violence could be triggered by a combination of uncertainties caused by modernization and pluralism within society.

Modernization, he said, has generated legal uncertainties, degradation of morals and ethics, which in turn caused anxiety.

"There is agony behind the glitter of modernization. We are now watching psycho-social tensions happen in our society," he said.

Hawari said religious, ethnic and racist disputes could easily explode in a stressful society.

However, he argued that conflict was common in developing countries.

Another speaker, Nurhadi Pusposaputro, vice chairman of the Coordinating Body for Intelligence, reminded the public not to fuss about social disparity because it would be pointless.

"What we should do is come up with a solution with no opportunity for friction," he said. (35/imn/amd)