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Collective action, engagement needed to uphold law in stadium tragedy
Before an investigation was launched, the public promptly deemed the police the culprits. This indicates extreme distrust in the security apparatus.
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Schoolchildren walk past a banner in Malang, East Java, on Oct. 6, calling for a thorough investigation of the Kanjuruhan Stadium stampede, which killed at least 131 people in one of the deadliest disasters in football history. ( AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
O
ne of the significant challenges facing this country is the just enforcement of the law. Sadly, the public often encounters injustice, such as light sentences for corruption convicts or perpetrators of violent crimes, as exemplified by human rights cases in Papua.
As the country moves closer to the election year of 2024, skepticism toward law enforcement persists. Elite maneuvering tends to be inseparable from political intrigue. At the same time, it is also widely known that the government faces difficulties in resolving past atrocities amid fears that the renewed attention will disrupt political harmony.
In this context, as soon as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo appointed several key stakeholders to resolve the Oct. 1 Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy in Malang, East Java, fairly and transparently, efforts to enforce the law against those responsible for the deadly incident have sparked tensions.
Unsurprisingly, the public is skeptical of the government’s commitment to justice in the case, in which 131 people were killed in a stampede that followed a match between Arema FC and archrival Persebaya Surabaya.
In the tragedy, the interaction between the public and security officers tends to be diametric. Before the investigation was launched, the public promptly deemed the police the culprits. This indicates extreme distrust in the security apparatus.
Engagement between security officers and the public is crucial for a fair investigation. However, this has not been the case with regard to the Kanjuruhan incident.
Even when the police named six suspects, the public, especially netizens, considered the law enforcement measures insufficient to address the root of the problem. As such, a thorough investigation is needed, including into several Arema supporters who stormed the playing field and may have provoked the incident.
