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A recent stunning surge in gangland shootings should serve
as a wake-up call for the authorities about the danger of uncontrolled
proliferation of firearms in Indonesia.
The media has reported that in less than a month, a flurry of shooting incidents in Yogyakarta, Banten, Papua, Central Sulawesi and Lampung provinces have killed at least four people and injured another five. Above all, the unusually high frequency has increasingly created a sense of insecurity among the public.
The most dramatic surge was recorded in Yogyakarta with 11 shooting incidents in only two days, Aug. 9 and 10. The highest profile victim was a local prison warden. He was critically injured after two strangers fired at him while he was chilling out at his official residence.
In other incidents, the trigger happy culprits targeted cars in people’s garages in Yogyakarta, an ancient sultanate which prides itself as a peaceful city. The police have yet to make any arrests and managed to identify the suspect only as a “chubby guy riding a motorbike wearing a black jacket”.
On Friday, two unidentified men riding a motorbike shot and killed First Adj. Insp. Kus Hendratna and Chief Brig. Ahmad Maulana in Tangerang, Banten, in the same general area where an unknown assailant shot and killed First Adj. Insp. Dwianto from a South Jakarta police precinct on Aug. 7.
The incident followed a similar drive-by shooting that seriously injured Second Adj. Insp. Patah Saktiyono from the Central Jakarta precinct.
Shootings targeting the police in such restive areas as Central Sulawesi and Papua, has raised concerns about escalating terror activity and so has the Aug. 5 attack on a detention house in Baturaja, South Sumatra.
The dramatic rise in shooting incidents over the past month followed persistent reports of terror attacks on police, arrogant individuals intimidating people over minor traffic incidents with guns and highway men threatening their victims with firearms.
The rise in cases of gun violence is astounding because in fact Indonesia has stringent laws on firearms. The 1951 Law on State of Emergency, which is considered the umbrella of lower ordinances, provides strict rules on firearms and carries a maximum penalty of death for offenders.
Even the possession and use of toy guns like air soft gun, which has often been used in urban street crimes and the more powerful air rifles widely used for bird hunting, have been strictly regulated in the 1984 Police Chief decree.
To cut a long story short, Indonesia already has good laws on gun control but they are not properly enforced. This explains the reason for the overwhelming proliferation of firearms even while stringent laws are in place.
We want to hear that a politician, soldier, policeman, lawyer, judge, businessman or criminal will be punished accordingly for misusing their guns. We are clueless about what the Indonesian Military (TNI) leadership has done to a “cowboy” Army officer who intimidated a motorcyclist with a handgun after a minor traffic offense in Palmerah, Central Jakarta, which went viral on YouTube in May last year.
It is a common suspicion that gun violence is on the rise because the licenses are easy to obtain. Besides, corrupt military personnel are known to have been involved in illicit gun trade as uncovered in last year’s trial of suspected terrorists holding military training in Aceh.
The weak intelligence of the police has also been attributed to the thriving home-made firearms business known to have been used in communal clashes in Central Sulawesi and in countless cases of street crimes in many cities.
Nowadays, people can easily buy toy guns in major traditional markets in Jakarta, where you can get a plastic handgun for a mere Rp 50,000 or Rp 2 million for a more sophisticated one that an untrained eye will not be able to tell if it is the real thing or a fake if a criminal were to point it at you.
And if you want to get one but have no idea where to buy it, don’t worry — it is offered online, too. All you need is the money and then call the numbers.
Air soft guns, also known as “replicas” began to flood the local market in 1999, shortly after the massive rioting which precluded the fall of Soeharto and its regulations were included in a 2004 decree on military-standard firearms control.
The police have only began conducting raids on the market in Jakarta last week, amid a barrage of media reports on the widespread misuse of firearms. It is hoped that the raids will not stop as soon as the media glare dims.
The slack gun control also sparks fear of escalating not only street thuggery but also terrorism, which Indonesia is struggling to combat. As we know, acts of terror remains a clear and present danger even though the anti-terror Densus 88 squad has sternly delivered a telling blow to their network.
Incidents such as retaliatory attacks on state apparatuses by terrorists or random attacks such as what happened in Yogyakarta could worsen unless the authorities act swiftly to put gun possession in check.
The government knows only too well of the ramifications of the unchecked firearms upsurge and it is high time that public sense of security is restored. ●
The media has reported that in less than a month, a flurry of shooting incidents in Yogyakarta, Banten, Papua, Central Sulawesi and Lampung provinces have killed at least four people and injured another five. Above all, the unusually high frequency has increasingly created a sense of insecurity among the public.
The most dramatic surge was recorded in Yogyakarta with 11 shooting incidents in only two days, Aug. 9 and 10. The highest profile victim was a local prison warden. He was critically injured after two strangers fired at him while he was chilling out at his official residence.
In other incidents, the trigger happy culprits targeted cars in people’s garages in Yogyakarta, an ancient sultanate which prides itself as a peaceful city. The police have yet to make any arrests and managed to identify the suspect only as a “chubby guy riding a motorbike wearing a black jacket”.
On Friday, two unidentified men riding a motorbike shot and killed First Adj. Insp. Kus Hendratna and Chief Brig. Ahmad Maulana in Tangerang, Banten, in the same general area where an unknown assailant shot and killed First Adj. Insp. Dwianto from a South Jakarta police precinct on Aug. 7.
The incident followed a similar drive-by shooting that seriously injured Second Adj. Insp. Patah Saktiyono from the Central Jakarta precinct.
Shootings targeting the police in such restive areas as Central Sulawesi and Papua, has raised concerns about escalating terror activity and so has the Aug. 5 attack on a detention house in Baturaja, South Sumatra.
The dramatic rise in shooting incidents over the past month followed persistent reports of terror attacks on police, arrogant individuals intimidating people over minor traffic incidents with guns and highway men threatening their victims with firearms.
The rise in cases of gun violence is astounding because in fact Indonesia has stringent laws on firearms. The 1951 Law on State of Emergency, which is considered the umbrella of lower ordinances, provides strict rules on firearms and carries a maximum penalty of death for offenders.
Even the possession and use of toy guns like air soft gun, which has often been used in urban street crimes and the more powerful air rifles widely used for bird hunting, have been strictly regulated in the 1984 Police Chief decree.
To cut a long story short, Indonesia already has good laws on gun control but they are not properly enforced. This explains the reason for the overwhelming proliferation of firearms even while stringent laws are in place.
We want to hear that a politician, soldier, policeman, lawyer, judge, businessman or criminal will be punished accordingly for misusing their guns. We are clueless about what the Indonesian Military (TNI) leadership has done to a “cowboy” Army officer who intimidated a motorcyclist with a handgun after a minor traffic offense in Palmerah, Central Jakarta, which went viral on YouTube in May last year.
It is a common suspicion that gun violence is on the rise because the licenses are easy to obtain. Besides, corrupt military personnel are known to have been involved in illicit gun trade as uncovered in last year’s trial of suspected terrorists holding military training in Aceh.
The weak intelligence of the police has also been attributed to the thriving home-made firearms business known to have been used in communal clashes in Central Sulawesi and in countless cases of street crimes in many cities.
Nowadays, people can easily buy toy guns in major traditional markets in Jakarta, where you can get a plastic handgun for a mere Rp 50,000 or Rp 2 million for a more sophisticated one that an untrained eye will not be able to tell if it is the real thing or a fake if a criminal were to point it at you.
And if you want to get one but have no idea where to buy it, don’t worry — it is offered online, too. All you need is the money and then call the numbers.
Air soft guns, also known as “replicas” began to flood the local market in 1999, shortly after the massive rioting which precluded the fall of Soeharto and its regulations were included in a 2004 decree on military-standard firearms control.
The police have only began conducting raids on the market in Jakarta last week, amid a barrage of media reports on the widespread misuse of firearms. It is hoped that the raids will not stop as soon as the media glare dims.
The slack gun control also sparks fear of escalating not only street thuggery but also terrorism, which Indonesia is struggling to combat. As we know, acts of terror remains a clear and present danger even though the anti-terror Densus 88 squad has sternly delivered a telling blow to their network.
Incidents such as retaliatory attacks on state apparatuses by terrorists or random attacks such as what happened in Yogyakarta could worsen unless the authorities act swiftly to put gun possession in check.
The government knows only too well of the ramifications of the unchecked firearms upsurge and it is high time that public sense of security is restored. ●
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