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Pedophilia and the poverty of the mind
On Monday, I was shocked by an exclusive interview with a criminal on television
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n Monday, I was shocked by an exclusive interview with a criminal on television. The interviewee was Baikuni, known as Babe, an old man who killed, sodomized and mutilated six children in Jakarta.
Baikuni was suspected of pedophilia and necrophilia. In the interview, Baikuni appeared not to feel guilty about what he had done, despite him claiming the contrary.
The interview made me wonder about the seriousness of mental illness among those living in poverty.
It’s not only Baikuni that has been arrested for similar cases in Indonesia. Previously, there was also
Robot Gedek, who was charged with pedophilia.
Both cases occurred in the context of poverty. Everybody knows that poverty disturbs the psychological health of a person. Likewise, many suicides have been committed out economic desperation.
Poverty is stressful. It is awful to see people intentionally end their lives because of poverty. But it is more disturbing to see how poverty makes people’s mind sick and harms other people, especially innocent children.
But is it only about poverty? Of course not, there are many complex reasons and factors as to why a mind becomes sick. I do not want to write a comprehensive article on psychology here. But I believe one main factor is religion.
Many Indonesians believe that “peace of mind” — if this could be defined as a normal mind — can be reached by religious efforts, by surrendering yourself to God. But look what has often been reported in the criminal news in Indonesia.
There are many cases of sexual harassment or sexual abuse where religious teachers were the perpetrators. Weird.
Are these psychological illnesses unique to our country? Of course not. Other countries also have their own suicidal rate and cases of pedophilia. Human behavior cannot be estimated in an exact manner.
It is sometimes too mysterious to predict. But surely, we can say that human behavior is a result of the mind. Something that is more mysterious than anything. But fortunately, we can say the human mind is deeply connected with the body. A healthy body goes hand in hand with a healthy mind.
But can we say that the behavior of Baikuni and other psychologically ill people is natural? Can we regard them as a natural and biological phenomena that can be tolerated? And find excuses for many other disgusting criminal deeds?
NO, of course NOT. We have to do something about this. I am glad to find that there are many social workers that have expressed their concern for street children.
That they are trying to provide good shelter and education for them is a very good deed. But perhaps there is more we can on the macro level.
As I said before, the human mind is deeply connected to the body. The mind, which is until now regarded as embedded in the brain and nervous system — needs a good environmental condition to make it healthy. Some research concerning nutrition and healthy minds is now being conducted.
But unfortunately, it is not being conducted in Indonesia so the subject of the research will not be Indonesians. Most of them are Japanese, American, or European. But is the human mind and behavior independent from culture?
I think there should be research on poverty and the human mind in Indonesia so that we can find
one more reason why the government (and also us) should eliminate poverty.
The author is a science writer.
