Mobocracy rules
The videos are ghastly.
Young men stripped to the waist, roped together in a line, shuffling
forward on their knees. Their bodies are
bruised and bloodied, their smashed faces creased with fear. They’re not just the victims of kampong rough
justice – they’re also casualties of the Indonesian government’s mishandling of
the Covid-19 crisis.
President Joko Widodo and his Cabinet should have known the
consequences of freeing 50,000 prisoners.
The idea was to ease congestion during the Covid-19 crisis and reduce chances
of disease clusters forming. The result
has been the release of community fear.
It’s widely WhatsApped that ex-cons have used their
unexpected freedom to reprise careers of crime, though years hence sociologists
will be testing the veracity of that belief.
The counterpoint is that even if the idlers with dyed hair
and tattooed torsos stayed clean once out of jail, their past misdeeds are
widely known in a country where privacy is nil. Like Canaan,
they are cursed forever.
Citizens are told to follow the government’s up-down, off-on
rules to crimp the pandemic, but don’t trust authorities. With a few exceptions, the mainstream media
is slapdash leaving unsourced social messages as gospel for the gullible.
Many won’t believe there’s a killer disease running
amuck. For those who do it’s a plot to
thin out the elderly, devalue the rupiah and set the scene for a coup.
Sickness is obvious - viruses are invisible. Like the US President, Indonesians need scapegoats. Orang Tionghoa (ethnic Chinese, about
1.2 per cent of the national population of 270 million) have been targeted by
xenophobes since the first traders arrived in the 13th century.
The rich have bolt holes overseas or fortress mansions in
gated suburbs. More than 1,000 died and 168
rapes were reported during Jakarta
riots following the downfall of President Soeharto in 1998. Since then Chinese shops in unstable zones have
installed steel door and window shutters.
Foreigners are also targeted on the basis that strangers
bring dangers, but there aren't many left.
Fewer than 3,000 Australians remain.
They’re mostly 'short term travellers' in Bali according to the Embassy,
now minus Ambassador Gary Quinlan, safe in Canberra.
Thieves, reformed or reoffending, are not so hard to spot as
they’re rootless. They can be caught and
bashed to show how crime should be handled.
In a well-ordered society, the police would be called when
alleged wrongdoers are snared by vigilantes.
That seldom happens. An old proverb warns: Report the theft of a goat and lose a cow.
Transparency
International Indonesia surveys show the police rank fifth on the
corruption index. Top are politicians followed by public servants, regional
councillors and tax officials.
Before some prison gates were partly opened the roll call
was 270,000 felons and beds for around half. The latest jail uproar was this month in Manado (North Sulawesi)
as fear of Covid-19 triggered an attempted breakout.
About 100 in every hundred thousand Indonesians are behind
bars. That’s low compared with the neighbours
- Australia 170, Malaysia 230 and Singapore 200. That doesn’t mean Indonesians are law
abiding; it’s more a measure of slack policing and criminals’ ability to buy
their way out of trouble.
It’s easy to criticize the world’s fourth most populous
nation for appalling administration and what Westerners consider irrational
behaviours, so time to give thanks for large mercies.
There are no gun shops or booze barns. Firearms are seldom used in robberies and
drunks are rare outside Bali (mainly ugly
Okkers) and the small Christian-majority provinces. If Indonesia
was like weapon-mad America
or grog-crazed Australia
(where the sale of alcohol is deemed an ‘essential service’) then this country
would be a frightful place.
Another blessing:
Science education is poorly taught and school labs primitive. Bomb
makers openly buying exotic chemicals show their hands - then lose them through
premature explosions.
There’s no way of knowing whether the crook-bashing videos
are current or even factual. That would
be important in a rational discussion but the dark ages are returning coupled
with the feral theories that swamp reason.
Think of Salem
and worthies pursuing witches. That
gives some understanding of the Indonesian practice of ‘sweeping’, frequently choreographed
by agents provocateurs.
Gangs of sanctimonious hoons clad in religious garb –
usually white to pretend they’re divinely driven - storm hotels, dormitories
and meetings where infidels may be lurking.
Foremost among the stirrers is the hardline Front Pembela
(Defenders) Islam formed in
1998 by religious leaders and military men to turn Indonesia into a sharia (Islamic
law) state. It claims seven million
members though that figure is suspect.
In 2016 the FPI
mustered a 500,000-strong mob howling for the elected Jakarta Governor Basuki
Tjahaja Purnama to be charged with
blasphemy. The ethnic Chinese Christian
spent two years in jail.
Although sweepings are irregular, fanatics favour the holy
fasting month of Ramadan, starting 23 April and climaxing with Idul Fitri on 24
May. There have already been threats to
‘sweep’ Indians following reports of discrimination against Muslims on the subcontinent.
Although not sanctioned by police the bullies are often
ignored. Past targets have included
Communism, drugs, alcohol, ‘free sex’ (unmarried couples living together) and
bestiality – meaning homosexuality. The
fear now is that Covid-19 will be an excuse for new eruptions of hate.
Beyond a locked gate where this column is winding down, the Rukun Tetangga (elected
community leader) has stamped his foot.
Street security cameras are being repaired, the satpam (security guard) has been told to step up patrols and all
non-residents' vehicles banned.
These measures won’t do more than divert
beggars for a few weeks till the satpam returns
to dozing before his TV. Crims on the
loose are unlikely to be deterred.
Meanwhile in his palace, the decisively indecisive
President has reversed an order to keep citizens in the dark about Covid-19
stats and told bureaucrats to be honest and open.
That’s something they haven’t done since the
Republic was proclaimed, 75 years ago this coming 17 August. Had it been otherwise the nation wouldn’t be ranked
85th on TI’s Corruption Perceptions
Index.
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