Agnes Winarti, Jakarta – These days it is not uncommon to see loose social groups, often ethnically bassed, taking the law into their own hands in the concrete jungle of Jakarta.

They regard violence as a means to an end, while the police are slow to show their teeth in enforcing the law. Several street clashes have been reported this year.

In May, the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) and the Association of Betawi Families fought over control of a parking area and illegal levies from street vendors in Kebayoran Lama market, South Jakarta. Two people died and one was severely injured.

A month before that, two Ambonese gangs, namely the Tito and Ongen groups, clashed over the right to collect a company's debts. The brawl, which took place at the company's office in Menteng, Central Jakarta, injured nine people.

Still in April, 43 members of the Betawi Communication Forum fought with an Ambonese ethnic group over a plot of land on Jl. Kapten Tendean in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, belonging to state oil company PT Pertamina. The police arrested 66 people involved in the brawl, which took the life of a Forkabi member.

In March, a police officer was one of dozens of casualties when the Islam Defenders Front with its allies the FBR, Indonesian Islamic Students, the Indonesian Patriot's National Movement, and Front Pembela Merah Putih attacked the leftist United National Liberation party in a rally in Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta.

The list continues over the years in Jakarta, not to mention in other parts of the country.

"It's not merely due to the society's lack of awareness and obedience to the law," a member of the National Police Commission, established in 2006 to improve the police institution's professionalism and transparency, Laode Husein, told The Jakarta Post recently.

"The police's lack of response to public reports, to some extent, also contributes to the ongoing occurrences of (people) taking the law into their own hands," said Husein, one of the seven members of the commission.

The police are still seen as being unable to detect the conflict potential in organizations based on ethnicity, or capable of handling the results.

Neta S. Pane from Indonesian Police Watch said: "The police don't have serious intentions about handling thuggery. The existence of corrupt officers backing up thugs to harvest profits is undeniable."

He also said that police raids aimed at thugs were only done sporadically and in reaction to public reports.Neta pointed out that thugs were usually only held for 48 hours at a police detention house, and then released due to "lack of evidence".

They then return to their usual haunts: bus terminals, markets and train stations. "Unless (they have) committed a crime, like robbery or murder, they are mostly free from any legal proceedings," Neta said.As a result, members of the public have started fighting back on their own. Reports of chicken thieves or pickpockets being beaten by residents before being handed over to the authorities are far from unusual in Jakarta.

However, Neta said that many high-ranking police officers had begun to show a genuine interest in changing their attitude toward serving the public, but that few lower-ranked officers felt the same way.

"The reforms of the police institution must not only be celebrated by the high-ranking officials but most importantly they must reach the lower-ranked officers, who serve the public directly," he said.

Neta also said that the National Police had improved the transparency of its recruitment process. "Since last year, a number of NGOs have been able to monitor the police recruitment physical and written tests."

Another breakthrough has been the Forum for the Partnership of Police and Community (FKPM) program, which aims at encouraging more active cooperation between residents and the police. Residents are expected to help police identify problems that have the potential to spark more serious public disturbances.

Unfortunately, the FKPM is yet to become an effective program because the success of this program depends on a good public perception of the police.

Most people are skeptical about the police, seeing them as arrogant, corrupt and unable to switch from a militaristic approach to a democratic one.

The prospect of the police being able to enforce the law with a democratic approach still remains as distant as ever. Until there's a positive public view of the police, those who prefer taking the law into their own hands will still be roaming every corner of our steel jungle.