Up in arms?

Up in arms?

Should Indonesians be allowed to carry guns? Or should the
current tight restrictions on gun ownership at least be loosened?
For most of us the answer to these questions is simple enough.
No. While many Indonesians of all ages are addicted to action
movies in which not a minute goes by without a bomb exploding or
a gun blazing, they shake their heads in shock and disbelief at
reports of school children in the United States shooting dead
their friends, parents or teachers.

Very few teenagers believe the time will ever come when youths
in Indonesia will settle their squabbles with guns, much less
revel in roadside shooting sprees -- the kind of senseless street
killings the participants indulge in just for the fun of it --
that they might have read about in newspapers and magazines. Only
two months ago, the question of free gun ownership was still a
long way from becoming a real subject of public debate in this
country.

Yet, unlikely as it may have seemed at the beginning of May,
questions such as these are of actual relevance for many people
in Jakarta at present. Though official police confirmation is as
yet still lacking, an illegal trade in guns of various makes and
calibers is widely reported to have emerged in the wake of the
vicious riots of May 13 and May 14.

In a statement to reporters on Thursday, Jakarta police chief
Maj. Gen Noegroho Djajoesman said the authorities have, since
July 1, seized 10 guns in citywide operations. Among those
confiscated were an FN .32 caliber rifle and .22 and .32 caliber
Colts. Police officers are being deployed in business centers,
busy intersections and in areas such as nearby Cilegon, Tangerang
and Bekasi, where armed robberies are commonplace. Police say
they have uncovered leads in places where guns are allegedly
being sold illegally.

Noegroho's comments come in the wake of media reports that the
crime rate in the city is rising and that guns can be easily
obtained on the black market, despite a strict ban on the
unlicensed ownership of firearms. Many wealthy Chinese-
Indonesians and some expatriates are reported to have obtained
black market guns to defend themselves in anticipation of fresh
riots in which they may become targets.

All of this notwithstanding, most Indonesians appear to remain
strongly opposed to a loosening of gun licensing requirements out
of the not unreasonable fear that such guns might fall into the
wrong hands. In fact, though Jakarta is believed to compare
favorably in terms of its crime rate, many citizens worry about
the apparent increase in violent crime in the city.

Still, as University of Indonesia criminologist Adrianus
Meliala has pointed out, people cannot be blamed for buying guns
under present circumstances. Meliala argues that while the
security authorities keep claiming that Jakarta is safe, people
see otherwise. "Criminal acts are committed not only by crooks,
but by angry mobs as well." Meliala says. "That is something new
and people are afraid of it. So the police cannot forbid them
from buying guns to defend themselves."

In other words, what Meliala is saying is that while loosening
gun ownership requirements is not the option most Indonesians
would favor, many people feel they have little choice but to arm
themselves as long as the authorities appear unable to guarantee
them the protection they are entitled to under the law.

It seems safe to say that most Indonesians agree with Meliala.
In the case of Jakarta, one particular gripe that has so far been
left unanswered concerns the perceived inaction on the part of
the city's security personnel during the riots. Rightly or
wrongly, the impression exists that the authorities left the
people to fend for themselves during those critical moments.

This and other lingering questions must be cleared up if a
true sense of security is to be restored. Owning a gun is not a
guarantee for safety. But, as has been said, people can hardly be
blamed for using whatever means they can to defend themselves in
the absence of official protection.