M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – A criminologist believes the authorities must identify the root causes of the hatred and prejudice which fuel vigilantism amid renewed calls for a crackdown on thuggery.
"It will be useless to focus on the violence that these groups have inflicted upon the public because they are mostly petty crimes akin to vandalism," the University of Indonesia's Adrianus Meliala told The Jakarta Post.
Adrianus said the police should determine the animosity toward others which drove the groups to commit their acts of violence.
"These groups operate on the premise that those who are against them must be obliterated – this is a hate crime akin to what skinheads, Ku Klux Klan or other fascist groups campaigned on." He believed some of the groups were covertly working to establish a theocratic state despite the country's pluralistic foundation.
"The police could also charge them with treason charges as what was repeatedly applied against the Islamic Indonesian State (NII)," he said, referring to an outlawed Islamist group that gained notoriety during the administration of former president Soeharto.
If all else fails in curbing the groups, he said resorting to heavy-handed approach used by Soeharto might be the answer.
"The regime managed to effectively silence these kinds of groups by using the criminal code from the Dutch colonial period, namely articles against spreading hatred." On Monday, nonprofit organizations, artists, journalists and activists launched a drive against thuggery in the capital.
Spearheaded by former first lady Shinta Nuriyah Wahid – who has recently fallen victim to a smear campaign by leader of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) Fadloli El Muhir – the Anti-Thuggery Movement called on the government to do more in fighting lawlessness in the country.
The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) named the FBR, the Betawi Communication Forum (Forkabi) and the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) as the main suspects in taking the law into their own hands.
The new movement is reminiscent of a drive launched by the civil society against thuggery in the wake of an attack against Tempo magazine journalists in March 2003.
Lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who has repeatedly called for the disbandment of vigilante groups, advised the movement to file a lawsuit for the dissolution of such groups, because the police had showed no sign of taking severe measures against them.
"The group should quickly file a lawsuit and keep an eye on the entire court proceedings," she told the Post.