Violence leads to violence, but do we have to follow?

JAKARTA (JP): A strange feeling struck me at the cinema a few weeks ago. I was watching Spielberg's latest critically acclaimed harrowing war movie Saving Private Ryan and the theater was almost full. Many people had been waiting to see it on the big screen even though bootlegged VCDs had been circulation from last year.

The movie opened with a horrifying battle scene: the actors seemed to be breathing down my neck and the vivid atmosphere provoked by the images disturbed me greatly.

I had never seen anything like it in a movie before. The combat was gripping, not glorified. Hand-held camera work made you feel that you were up there on scene. It was a no-holds barred portrayal of war. Who can forget the scene in which a soldier has his arm blasted off during the chaos of gunfire? Who can forget hi horror search for the missing body part among the pile of his dead friends?

Unexpectedly, laughter broke out around me. I was incredulous and turned to look around. The inappropriate response left me wondering if I was among aliens on tour from another galaxy who enjoyed watching human agony.

Another outburst of laughter was prompted by a scene in which a solder, hit by a bullet in the head was saved by the bulletproof properties of his helmet. In amazement he removes his helmet and is killed by a bullet wound to the head. Many in the audience were hooting with laughter. When their hilarity occurred a third time I walked out.

I am always amazed at our extremely high tolerance of violence. Such realities have been our language for a long time. Mentioning examples will probably elicit yawns. Violent incidents are broadcast on the news everyday and may even happen in our backyard. What is the cause of such callousness? Is it just part of human nature, something we can't help but preserve?

It could be countered that people in other parts of the world have more respect for human lives. They even talk about protecting animal rights. Fur coats and leather jackets become hot topics: "How many snakes were killed for your hand bag, lady?" However, we continue to watch news about a mass slaughter and then switch nonchalantly to the weather report.

Perhaps it is just that our manner of expressing feelings is different from others. (Recall protest demonstrations on the news, especially ones of factory workers demanding a wage increase. Recall their faces, their cheerful expressions. They laugh, they dance, they look so happy!)

We seem persuaded that violence is the first choice for solving problems. Recall the violent crises which have plagued our country. In Tanjung Priok, East Timor, Aceh, you name it, a military operation has been put forward as the solution.

You must have heard stories about how police torture criminals during the interrogation process. If they are all true, the interrogation scene from In the Name of the Father, the movie about an Irishman falsely accused of a bombing, looks like a slapstick joke from one of those Srimulat (local comedy group) episodes.

For years, we have tolerated this state of affairs for one constant reason: we can do nothing about it. So we are faced with a choice between either going numb or going mad. Some of us won't give up and go mad (we leave the country or are committed to a mental institution). But most of us have become numb.

Current pervasive unrest in Indonesia makes it seem as if we are due to harvest violence and ignorance in huge quantities.

Reading news about the Ambon and West Kalimantan killings makes some of us ask what kind of human beings are capable of such deeds. It seems as if everyday a new standard for obscene acts of violence occur. Body parts are strewn in the street as trophies. Are we that angry? It is true that for years we have faced many injustices and been powerless to fight. Think of the illegal land grabs without acceptable compensation and curbs on freedom of speech, to name just two injustices. But is it just our muted anger that now runs amok?

In these times when politics and everything related to it are wildly overrated, it has become common to hear that provocateurs started a riots, linking it to a politician's agenda. This scenario may be true, but blaming outbreaks of violence on provocateurs, leaving ourselves as puppets on a string, will only kill our sense of responsibility.

It's like blaming aliens and UFOs for thinning our ozone layer and the devil for every bad thing we do. When the heat is applied to a situation, former diverse groups of people that lived peacefully together turn suspicious and suddenly become capable of committing acts of horrible violence.

Why doesn't the government reserve their biggest effort for analyzing the roots of the problem instead of trotting out their endless: "We're still looking for the provocateurs, we have some names, we'll tell you later" spiel. Death tolls are rising as fast as the cholesterol in some bureaucrats' blood. Hey, if you can't do it, step down and let somebody else perform the job.

For years we have tolerated this untenable situation; now it is payback time. One question concerning our capability to commit heinous acts of violence persists: are we damaged, or just a bunch of sinners?

-- Jokoanwar Dekan