JAKARTA: The decision from the Jakarta Police to intensify crackdown on begal (violent street robbers) by creating a military-backed special team to hunt down suspected offenders has raised concerns of inflicting rights violations and extrajudicial killings.
In a press briefing on Friday (May 22), Jakarta Police’s general crimes director Sr. Comr. Iman Imanuddin said that there had been 173 people suspected and arrested for street crimes across Greater Jakarta since early May.
Two suspects were shot in the leg for allegedly carrying firearms and resisting police arrest during a crackdown in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.
“For some suspects who resisted and attempted to flee, we took a tough and measured action,” Iman said, describing such an action as a last resort.
The spree of arrests came as the Jakarta Police formed on May 15 the so-called Tim Pemburu Begal, a 24-hour patrolling team tasked with hunting down street robbers and is supported by soldiers from the Jakarta Military Command (Kodam Jaya).
Kodam Jaya spokesperson Lt. Col. Noor Iskak said in Friday’s briefing that the military had been deploying its combat battalion to assist the crackdown. He added that the joint patrol was launched by involving personnel from different levels of military commands.
“The presence of authorities among the public is intended to provide a sense of security and to demonstrate the state's presence in protecting its citizens,” Noor said.
The presence of street robbers has long plagued Jakarta’s streets, with perpetrators often operating after hours and forcing victims to surrender their vehicles or personal belongings by using violence or threats.
The intensified crackdown on begal has been met with a chorus of support from lawmakers, including NasDem Party lawmaker Ahmad Sahroni who asked the police to shoot offenders on sight without any tolerance, Tempo.co reported on Monday.
Sahroni later clarified that the shooting instruction should not be meant to kill offenders but instead to only create a deterrent effect.
However, Human Rights Minister Natalius Pigai slammed the shooting instruction, saying that it could open the door for extrajudicial killings instead of solving the entrenched problem of street crimes in the city.
“I do not allow anyone to be shot without clear legal procedures and due process. Suspected offenders cannot be shot on sight because such actions fundamentally violate human rights,” Pigai told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He added that even if the shooting is intended to protect public safety, any use of lethal force must strictly follow legal standards and include accountability and oversight to prevent abuse.
The minister also slammed the military’s involvement in the crackdown, calling it an overreach and misplacement of authority by the armed forces.
The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) warned that the city has a troubling history of “war on criminality” operations in which many suspected street criminals were shot to death by authorities without giving them a chance for a fair trial.
The group cited a similar crackdown by the police around the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, when at least 15 suspected street criminals were shot to death by the police in the name of securing the regional sport tournament.
LBH Jakarta warned that the recent crackdown to hunt down street robbers could repeat past extrajudicial killings that were justified by the police as a “measure to maintain public order”. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
