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