Social groups set up to handle community brawls

JAKARTA (JP): Police will set up community groups to help quash years of community hostility in areas of Central Jakarta that often break out into mass brawls.

"We have met with the informal leaders of the two area," Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira told The Jakarta Post over the weekend, referring to the Pegangsaan and Menteng subdistricts.

According to Abubakar, the groups will consist of 10 or more people from the disputing areas and will be assisted by some officers of the police precinct.

Setting up a nearby police station is also being considered, because brawls often happen when there is no police supervision, Abubakar added.

For reasons they can hardly figure out now, the residents, who mostly live in shanties in the slum areas of the two subdistricts have been fighting each other for at least five years.

The disputing parties, comprising one neighborhood unit against three others, are separated by a wall and a railway line.

Last month, a young man was stabbed to death in front of his house during one of the community brawls. Fire razed four shanties last Friday, allegedly started with Molotov cocktails, following a three-day brawl. Stones thrown during the brawl also damaged dozens of other shanties.

Hundreds of police and troops were deployed around the compound to prevent another brawl.

"We now feel safer with the police and troops around," said Mamat, one of the residents.

A female resident showed the Post around her decrepit and virtually inhabitable house, which is due to most of the roof tiles being broken. A gaping hole in the ceiling provides no protection from sun or rain. During the fight, she said, she sought refuge in her parents' house.

According to Mamin, a long-time resident and a former community neighborhood chief, said that various reconciliation attempts have been pursued, all to no avail, referring to reconciliation attempts held in Puncak and the West Java town of Pelabuhan Ratu over the past three years.

"None of that nonsense will give positive results unless people start to think straight," added Aceng, a father of two whose house was burned to ashes.

Many residents have lived in the vicinity for decades. Most have families and relatives living on the "enemy" side.

Close family ties, however, do not ensure harmony.

Security personnel told the Post that some residents, including women, continue to pour fuel on the fire by booing the "enemy" or throwing stones. (jun/14)