War against criminals

There can be hardly a person in Jakarta these days who has not either been a witness to crime or at least heard about friends or relatives becoming victims of crime.

Indeed, the capital city seems to be no longer a place where public safety can be guaranteed with any degree of certainty. Perhaps, this can be explained by saying that Jakarta is the capital city of a developing country where many of its citizens still have to struggle to make ends meet. Still, in the face of the wave of violence that has been taking an increasing number of lives lately, such an argument may sound apologetic and of little consolation for those who are affected.

In addition, criminals of late seem to have become more and more sadistic. School children learn about morals and traditional values from their parents at home, but on the city bus when they ride to school they witness pickpockets and holdup men in action. Furthermore, these young people are told not to resist a thug's demands for their belonging because it can cost them their lives.

To read Jakarta's newspapers, the situation seems to have gotten out of hand. It reminds us of the situation that prevailed in some Indonesian cities a decade ago, when the government launched a form of shock therapy by launching a wave of "mysterious killings." Unconfirmed reports said some three hundred suspected criminals were killed and their bodies thrown in spots where outlaws were known to operate.

The operation provoked protests from people in several other countries but was welcomed by many locals in Indonesia. Now, only days after the police and army started a new anti-crime campaign, many favorable reactions have again been heard. It seems that Jakartans have become fed up with the situation of insecurity in which anyone's life can be in danger at any moment. These people, most of whom have to work hard to survive, desire to live peacefully. They need safety at home, in the streets, in the city buses, day and night.

Now 16,700 personnel of Operation Cleansing are trying to give them that feeling of peace. The operation is being carried out by the police assisted by military personnel comprising officers of the elite Red Beret Kopassus corps, the Navy and the Air Force. It will last for an as yet undecided period of time.

It may be relevant to note that the majority of those involved in criminal offenses are people between 20 and 30 years of age. Every year 2.5 million young Indonesians enter a stark field called the job market. But perhaps, only a few of them become employed and the rest become part of a potential social time bomb.

Operation Cleansing, in this context, is a step to cure a symptom, in the same way that medication reduces the body heat of a patient. It needs further measures to diagnose the underlying nature of the social illness and thus reduce the danger, although to completely cure it may be impossible because crime is a product of the society in which it occurs.

In this kind of situation the police will have to think seriously about how to make the feeling of peace among the citizens last as long as possible. The difficulty is that while the ethical foundation of fighting violence with violence is very shaky, the same time the present anti-crime campaign might teach criminals that crime doesn't pay.