Oei Eng Goan – When law enforcement agencies fail to guarantee public safety and security and the judicial process does not work accordingly, it is certain that people will take the law into their own hands. This happens everywhere and will always lead to anarchism.

Anarchic actions in several parts of Indonesia are regularly reported by television stations. These include street brawls and communal clashes, some of which deadly. Firm measures should be taken against the masterminds of the riots.

The government doesn't respond quickly enough to attacks on minority groups and their houses of worship, leaving the impression that authorities have adopted a permissive stance on the issue despite the nation's Pancasila state ideology, which actually allows religious freedom and recognizes pluralism.

Many courtrooms, which used to exude judicial authority, have become brawl arenas for families of the defendants and litigants who, on certain occasions, do not even hesitate to attack the presiding judge for presenting an "unfair" verdict.

Just weeks ago, we watched in disbelief how an unruly mob destroyed and burned down a government building in Palopo, South Sulawesi, and how a group of angry soldiers attacked and set ablaze a police station in Ogan Komering Ulu, South Sumatra, after a traffic policeman shot dead a member of the armed forces.

All these incidents show that the public trust in the nation's judicial system has eroded. Why so? It has become public knowledge that many judges, some of whom even holding a high rank, can be bribed to reverse guilty verdicts into acquittals. Although there are good judges who retain their integrity to uphold justice, the wrongdoings of their colleagues have tainted the image of the entire judicial institution. The same goes for the National Police. As usual, one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel.

Eroding trust in the country's law enforcement was shown in a recent opinion poll. The results, announced on Sunday, showed that some 61 percent of rural poor people, compared to 48 percent of those living in urban areas, were not satisfied with the current system of law enforcement.

The public surely has a point, especially when we take into consideration two incidents that happened within the last few month that saw law enforcers apply discriminatory practices to suspects of two separate fatal incidents because of their social status, prompting people to say that "the blade of the law is sharp for marginalized people but blunt for the haves and powerful."

In the wee hours of Jan. 1 this year, a drowsy young man lost control of his BMW car, which moved with great speed on a toll road before crashing into another car, killing two of its passengers in the process. The son of Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa was questioned by the police but was never arrested, not even detained.

However, police quickly detained a mini bus driver, Jamal Syamsuri, for days and questioned him intensively, following the death a female passenger who jumped out of the bus while the vehicle was moving fast. It was believed that the girl acted recklessly after she became suspicious of Jamal who took a different road to her destination. (Weeks earlier a rape had taken place in a minibus on a different route).

Following public protests, Jamal was eventually released after he had convinced the police that he took the unusual route only to avoid traffic congestion and had not had the slightest intention to harm the unfortunate girl.

To restore the public trust in the country's judicial process and to prove that every citizen is equal before the law should be more than paying lip service to victims of social injustice.

Police and other law enforcement personnel should tirelessly demonstrate their integrity in preserving the dignity of the state judicature. Otherwise, jungle law will prevail.

[Oei Eng Goan is a freelance journalist and writer. He can be contacted at enggoano@indosat.net.id.]