T

he latest incident of vigilantism is more than enough '€” the lynching of a suspected motorcycle robber in Pondok Aren, in the Banten city of Tangerang on Feb. 24. It followed at least six others since September, in which five suspects were killed. Offered rationalizations all make sense: a deep distrust in the police and the repeated incidents in many parts of Greater Jakarta with helpless victims having their vehicles stolen at gunpoint, knife-point and sword-point and being wounded or killed '€” even in dense neighborhoods.

In the Feb. 24 incident, the nearest police post, some three kilometers away, was too far, locals said, but clearly the strongest trigger was the sense of collective desperation caused by the repeated violent robberies. So, one of four robbers who fell from a roof was ganged up on, beaten, stripped and burned alive. Police came only later. '€œIt was cruel but necessary,'€ said locals and others who heard the news, including motorcycle taxi (ojek) drivers whose livelihoods depend on the safety of the roads.

However, a return to such vigilantism cannot be '€œnecessary'€. Taking the law into one'€™s own hands, after the suspect reportedly wounded one of the motorcycle passengers in the Feb. 24 case, instantly brings us back to the desperate days of lawlessness shortly after strongman Soeharto quit the presidency nearly 17 years ago.

The day after the killing of the thievery suspect, residents in surrounding areas were warned of the robbers seeking revenge, thus locals should be on alert, especially motorcyclists in the late hours. Police will hopefully be around, but another fatal attack on another suspect by residents would not be surprising.

Today such acts would bring us back to zero, showing the young that in the absence of the police, simply get some gasoline and set the suspect on fire. Worse '€” or better '€” no one would likely blame you, even if your face shows up on YouTube. A local reportedly had his recording of the lynching uploaded onto the video sharing site later in the day.

We'€™re hearing the familiar conspiracy theories: that crimes are allowed to occur, or are even orchestrated, to make us realize we need for the security forces '€” the police or the army.

Indeed, after 16 years of reform there is still much work to be done, including in beefing up security and reforming the police. But whatever their shortcomings are, whatever rivalry and politicking occurs among law enforcers or politicians, the right to public security must be served by the police.

Condoning murderous vigilantism proves how slowly we have progressed.

The lynching, which leaves police with fewer leads to nab the other robbers, coincides with the national righteousness these days that lets us believe we have every right to legally kill drug convicts, despite international appeals. We think we'€™re progressing in law enforcement, particularly against drug abuse, while we are still following murderous instincts, returning full circle to the days when people supported president Soeharto'€™s self-acknowledged '€œshock therapy'€ of bagging up suspected criminals '€” literally, in sacks '€” after having them killed and dumping them in not-too-discreet places.

Under President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, one hopes we can really progress a bit further toward his suggested '€œmental revolution'€.

We cannot hide those days of collective murder from future history books '€” in one year alone leading newspaper Kompas recorded 56 suspected criminals killed after being ganged-up on and set on fire by residents in 46 incidents around Greater Jakarta from 1999 to 2000.

These followed the May 1998 riots in a number of cities and were the years of the frightening communal killings in Maluku, which preceded those in the Central Kalimantan town of Sampit. Whatever conspiracy theory was suggested after the fall of the centralized New Order, the murderous clashes only showed the sad fact that Indonesians did not necessarily need much conspiracy and orchestration to be triggered into collective violence.

We thought all that was behind us '€” until a light court sentence of a few months given to murderers of two Ahmadi members in Banten in 2011 also signaled that '€œprovocation'€ was adequate justification for attacking and killing '€œprovocateurs'€.

The absence of and distrust in police in the face of people falling victim to crime is the current trigger of lawlessness, safe in the anonymity of mob violence. One danger, from our experience, was the belated realization that not all those killed in the name of street justice were criminals. The greater danger is that we would encourage our children to dismiss such fatal mistakes as collateral damage: '€œOops, sorry mate!'€ Time and again social permissiveness of such violence has contributed to crimes being committed with impunity, such as in the unresolved May 1998 violence and other past atrocities.

As critics of our death penalty try valiantly to point out its ineffectiveness and flaws, it is the fact that such a murderous instinct is alive and well that is more troubling in our society of Pancasila, Indonesia'€™s supposedly humane ideology.
__________________

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.