Violence society

Violence society

In Jakarta the house of Philipus Kia Lejab, the suspected
murderer of Rohadi's wife and three children in Bambu Apus, East
Jakarta, has been destroyed. Even the houses of several of his
relatives in Bambu Apus were set on fire.

In Surabaya, a band of people attacked the Wonorejo
neighborhood, where the mayor of Surabaya lived. The reason was
that, earlier, a group of people from Wonorejo had attacked and
destroyed the house of Andy Soedirman, a member of Surabaya's
city legislative council. Now the people who call themselves
sympathizers of Andy Soedirman are taking revenge.

Those two cases show that the "culture of violence" still
prevails in our society. Cases in which people take the law into
their own hands, for whatever reason, are very much to be
regretted. Even against those who are actually guilty there is no
reason for people to take any action whatsoever, much less
against people who may not even be proven to be guilty. The
principle of the presumption of innocence applies in this
country.

It seems that people are becoming increasingly impatient with
the legal process, which often appears to be sluggish and over-
concerned with searching for material truths. Others prefer to
look at the phenomenon from another point of view: that of the
increasingly pitiless competition in the social and economic
spheres.

Without any intention of belittling those two theories, we
must view the two cases mentioned in a proportionate manner.
Destroying anybody's house is a violation of the law. They
deserve the attention of all of us; our law enforcement
authorities in particular. Unless tackled without delay they
could develop into something worse.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta