A deeper look into Indonesia’s ‘begal’ problem Adhitya S Ramadianto  ;  A medical practitioner currently on an internship in Pekanbaru, Riau

JAKARTA POST, 29 Maret 2015

                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                                                           

News channels and social media feeds have been inundated by stories of begal, violent robbers brutally assaulting motorcyclists leading to severe injuries and death. This crime wave seems to be gripping many cities, especially Jakarta, obfuscating the already chaotic capital with a Gotham-like atmosphere. The police force is doing its job, hunting and arresting the criminals. However, sending them to jail is only a stopgap measure. Thinking that incarcerating more criminals will cut crime is a shortsighted policy. Indonesians do not just wake up in the morning and suddenly decide to forge a career in violent crime. A multitude of factors spur this dangerous phenomenon and a very careful look is needed to discover the root causes. First of all, this sociological endeavor needs reliable, objective data surrounding begal cases. The police force and academia need to work together to produce workable data to build the foundation of crime-fighting initiatives. We need to consider what turns people into thugs, or in the language of Freakonomics, what are the incentives that drive these men (no reports of female begal yet) to violent crime. Obtaining data on how much a successful begal attempt earns and how much each episode costs the perpetrator is a starting point. Does the crime pay enough to offset the risks? Especially when we consider that violent backlashes against begal are rising too, with suspected crooks beaten or burnt to death. Or perhaps our criminals simply lack the skill to assess the risks involved in their crime. The crime itself can reveal a lot. How do these robbers form “work groups”? What are the weapons of choice? Is there some kind of pattern in the location of the crimes? What makes them brazen enough to attack their victims in increasingly crowded places? If we beef up security in crime hotspots, do they cease operation or simply move to new spots? Answering these questions can give clues on what can be done to reduce crime, such as gun control policy and management of police patrols. A considerable proportion of perpetrators are reportedly school- and college-aged youths. Are they still in school? If not, why did these youngsters slip from our education system that is supposedly accessible for all? If so, why are they engaged in this senseless violence? The households of the criminals can tell a story too. Most assume these thugs come from broken homes with abusive or absent parents. However, anecdotal evidence from the media casts doubt on that assumption. Again, only data can definitively answer that. If these thugs do come from dysfunctional families, what can we do to support them? Is there a social net for such at-risk youths? If they come from “normal” families, what are they doing wrong? Then we need to tease out what makes one family breed violent offspring and others not. Consequently, do parents need intervention to make sure they are doing parenting the “correct” way? In a country where having a child is still seen as a status symbol with minimal consequences, we are forced to grapple with the notion that not everybody is cut out to be a parent. As answers emerge from the tangle, the government and other stakeholders can then begin to treat the problem one step at a time, as there is no miracle panacea that will make crime disappear in a day. In choosing the treatment, again, we need to look at accurate data. There is a myriad of crime-reducing initiatives worldwide with varying efficacy and adaptability to our conditions. Better urban planning, gun control, youth empowerment programs, and education reform are just a few of them. Implementing them will not be a walk in the park. Nevertheless, the main point is that we already have a vast arsenal, from government policies to grassroots movements; we just need to make our choices carefully. Stopping begal will demand a lot of work from various sides. Certainly it will not be easy, but, to borrow from JFK, we choose to do it not because it is easy. We choose to do it because through reforming how we approach fighting crime, we are setting ourselves to save a generation and to improve the lives of Indonesians for decades to come. ●