|
The prison raid in Yogyakarta last month
and the recent bombings in Boston are two totally unrelated events. But
what transpired following the two incidents is eerily similar: Citizens
lionizing the armed forces and willingly compromising their civil rights
for the sake of security.
It is chilling to see how many Indonesians glorify the 11 Army’s Special
Forces (Kopassus) commandos for killing four inmates accused of slaying
their former colleague. According to these supporters, the killings were
justified because the victims were “murderous thugs”. In their minds, the
soldiers were the heroes. Their victims were the bad guys who deserved to
die.
It is equally unsettling, though much less horrifying, to know that the
US government did not read Dzhorkhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights until a
few days after his arrest. Some US citizens, angered by the heinous crimes
the man allegedly committed, were supportive of the move, as they lauded
the police for their successful mission. In this light, Dzokhar is a
terrorist, an enemy of the state (He is actually still a suspect and not
declared an “enemy combatant”).
This trend is just disturbing. Indonesia and the US are among the world’s
largest democracies. But, seeing that the people of both nations are
seemingly willing to trade civil rights for security or protection shows
that democracy is losing ground.
Those who stand behind Kopassus have failed to understand that the four
“thugs” accused of killing a soldier of the elite unit had the right to a
fair trial. If they were found guilty, they could have been jailed or
faced a firing squad.
They did not, for whatever reasons, deserve to be shot dead while
awaiting trial.
This is why the Cebongan killings were by no means justified. The right
to a fair trial applies in all countries that respect rule of law,
including the US. Dzhokhar, a suspected terrorist, is a US citizen.
Despite media reports and testimonies pointing to his involvement in the
incident, he has the right to remain silent and have a lawyer defend him
during questioning.
The four murder suspects allegedly killed
by the Kopassus soldiers and Dzhokhar are probably guilty as charged. But
they are innocent until proven otherwise. This is what we stand for. This
is how any civilized country should treat suspected criminals.
But in desperate times, we are so blinded by fear and hatred that
rational principles are tossed out the door.
In our case, the most cited reason for justifying the Cebongan killings
is the failure of the law enforcers to maintain security and uphold
justice.
Over the past few years, it has become quite common for Indonesians to reminisce
about the good old days when Soeharto was still in power. It was safer.
There were no thugs. There were no terrorists.
The ghost of the iron-fisted leader is again haunting the nation at a
time when democracy has been widely perceived as a breeding ground for
chaos and insecurity.
It is no surprise that in the lead up to the 2014 elections, pollsters
have found support for the likes of former Kopassus commander (ret) Gen.
Prabowo Subianto— Soeharto’s former son-in-law — is growing. People want stability
and security even if it may cost them their rights.
I am not saying that we do not need security. But, there is no need to
sell our souls to the devil for it. It may be true that we are safer from
terrorism and any form of vigilantism if we are living under a
totalitarian state. But that is a Faustian bargain that in the end will
put us on the losing side.
If you approve what the Kopassus soldiers did, do note that your approval
could only be seen as an implied license for the armed forces to commit
extrajudicial killings. How do you know they will not abuse such power?
What if their next victims are innocent?
In less than a month after the prison killings, a group of Indonesia
Military (TNI) soldiers reportedly attacked the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-P) headquarters in South Jakarta. The attack was
triggered by a fracas involving a student and a soldier over a minor
traffic incident. If somebody had been killed during the incident, would
you still be defending the TNI?
In times of frustration over hard-liners — be they terrorist groups such
as al-Qaeda or religious vigilante groups like the Islam Defenders Front
(FPI) — totalitarianism offers us an appealing quick fix.
The Mephistopheles of our time are handing the government the power to
encroach our freedom in return for artificial and temporal security.
Writing for Salon.com, Andrew O’Hehir said that US citizens already
traded their rights for security after the 9/11 attacks and they ended up
getting neither of them. Time will tell whether they will end up trading
more of their rights, with lawmakers there planning to use the Boston
tragedy as a pretext to pass draconian bills such as CISPA.
As a preacher of democracy, the US should know the world is watching how
they treat the Boston bombings suspect. The world condemns the bombings
and laments the loss of innocent lives, but the accused perpetrator has
the right to due process.
We are lucky that religious hard-liner groups, in a rare occurrence, were
with us in blocking the contentious mass organization bill, which was
seen by many as an attempt to bring the New Order back.
But the growing support for Kopassus soldiers accused of extrajudicial
killings shows that many Indonesians may really hope for the return of
Soeharto’s authoritarianism.
I am beginning to wonder, in the wake of the Cebongan killings, with
people standing behind the rogue Kopassus soldiers, are we silently
forging a Faustian deal with the ghost of Soeharto? The future suddenly
looks so grim for Indonesia beyond 2014. ●
|
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar