Jakarta Street Justice

What is it that suddenly transforms otherwise friendly neighborhood folk into a violent crowd that mercilessly clobbers an unarmed person to death? Perhaps it's the general absence of law and order during politically unstable times; or a corrupt criminal justice system that's perceived never to hand out justice at all; or maybe it's economic hardship that drives ordinary people to unthinkable acts. Whatever the reason, Jakarta is suddenly a very dark and sinister place when it comes to mob lynching incidents known as pengadilan jalanan, or street justice.

The unfortunate 'victim' usually began the day as a mischievous petty thief. He stole a chicken from someone's courtyard, clothing off a laundry line, a motorbike parked in back alley or even just a plate of dried fish from a neighborhood market. Bad move. Local residents caught him in the act, word spread quickly around the block, and to cries of "Thief!" a vengeful mob galvanized around the terrified criminal to deliver an immediate 'sentence'. If he was lucky, the mob beat him senseless but he lived to tell the tale. More likely, however, our hapless chicken thief was doused in kerosene and set alight, and is with us no more.

Cases of citizens taking the law into their own hands grew worryingly frequent in Jakarta in the late 90s. Economic hardship stemming from the monetary crisis that began 1997 and collapse of authoritarian rule in 1998 combined to create an atmosphere of lawlessness on the street. Law enforcement officers were notorious for their reluctance to intervene, even at the scene of a public lynching. Such incidents are rarely ever investigated, and government offices don't bother recording statistics on vigilante justice. But city tabloids still run gruesome stories about public beatings on a weekly bases, and it is estimate that in Greater Jakarta alone, hundreds of thieves are 'executed' in this manner each yar. One commentator put it this way: Under authoritarianism, Indonesian society had order without freedom, whereas with democracy it now has freedom without order.