Yusril Warns Against Vigilantism Amid Dedi Mulyadi's Bounty for Begal

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, has called on the West Java Regional Police to intensify security patrols. He made the statement in response to the controversy surrounding a bounty for the capture of street criminals, or ‘begal’, initiated by West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi. Yusril believes the police presence in areas prone to street crime needs to be strengthened to provide a sense of security to the public while carrying out the National Police’s duties in maintaining security and order, protecting citizens, and enforcing the law. ‘I ask the National Police, especially the West Java Regional Police, to increase security patrols, particularly in areas suspected of having high levels of begal activity that cause fear among the public,’ Yusril said in a statement in Jakarta on Sunday, 26 July 2026. In addition to increasing patrols, Yusril requested that the National Police enhance public education regarding measures to prevent begal attacks and the procedures for reporting suspected criminal acts to law enforcement officials. He stated that the public must be involved in maintaining neighbourhood security, but such participation must remain within legal boundaries. ‘Thus, the public is not encouraged to take the law into their own hands. Maintaining security is a shared responsibility, but law enforcement must still be carried out by the authorised authorities,’ he said. Yusril also emphasised that the state is obliged to protect all its citizens. Victims of begal attacks must receive protection for their lives and property as part of the constitutional rights guaranteed by the constitution. On the other hand, he reminded that perpetrators of criminal acts still have the right to be processed according to the applicable legal provisions. ‘They must be captured alive, tried fairly, and sentenced proportionately by the court. They must not die from being mobbed beyond the limits of humanity. Such an act is also a human rights violation that must be prevented,’ he said. Responding to the plan to give rewards to citizens who capture begal, Yusril assessed that the mechanism is not as simple as imagined. He explained that determining whether a person is guilty of a criminal act is the authority of the court, not the public or law enforcement officials. He explained that the process takes time as it must await a court decision with permanent legal force.