Due to Hoax, Young Man and Crazy People Got Beaten Up by Vigilante Residents in Brebes Regency
Brebes is a regency in the northwestern part of Central Java province* in Indonesia. Last week people have been angered when there were news of children kidnappings performed by someone pretending to be crazy on Facebook. As a result, the residents took it upon themselves to judge and throw stones at several allegedly crazy people.
It first happened on Tuesday (28/2/2017), in Ketanggungan District, where they threw stones on a crazy male. The residents have played vigilante again by punching a crazy female in Kubangjati Village. Fortunately, the police were able to secure both victims. They interrogated both to no success. One cannot talk while the other one only babbles incoherently. The things on their person were merely some coins a big plastic bag that was full of holes. It was concluded that both of them were genuinely crazy.
On Wednesday (1/3/2017), in Kluwut Village, Bulakamba District, the residents were chasing an unknown young man of the age of 20 who was wondering around in panic with the intention to beat him because he was very suspicious.
The local police had to use a truck as a barricade between the residents. The police quickly brought him inside the village's office. A lot of people gathered outside the office demanding for the man to be released. When he was brought out, the people went berserk and wanted to beat him up. "Antemi bae. Entengna," they said, which means "Just beat him. Finish him."
Luckily the police were able to safely brought him into a truck and brought him to the Brebes' Police HQ Resorts a.k.a. Mapolres in Bahasa Indonesia. The Chief Police Luthfie Sulistiawan took care of him, and said that he will do a psychological check to see if he is truly insane or was merely faking it.
The young man (20 years old) was identified to be a worker from Purwokerto, the capital town of Banyumas Regency in the Centra Java region*. He was praying (Salat of Islam religion) and then started wandering around which made people suspicious of him. Someone punched him, and others followed suit automatically. Quite disturbing, I fear**. "He only wanted to go to the capital city Jakarta to ask for a job, which is why there was a diploma in his bag," Satwi (55 years old) said, one of the local residents whom have tried to secure the young man from the residents' fury.
Chief Luthfie also addressed that the residents should not play vigilante and not quickly believe of the news that there was a child kidnapping on social media or through gossip.
Finally, the Head of Criminal Investigation Unit a.k.a. Kanit Reskrim in Bahasa Indonesia of Ketanggungan Police Station, Aiptu Suryanto gave his statement, "The point there is no kidnapping. There are only crazy people accused of kidnapping children. Residents took it upon themselves because they were baited by the viral video," Wednesday (1/3/2017). Said viral video is a hoax, as there is no proof that there has been a kidnapping, and it is highly probable that the crazy person in that video is truly crazy.
Resources:
http://www.tribunnews.com/regional/2017/03/02/karena-berita-hoax-seorang-pemuda-di-brebes-diamuk-massa-orang-gila-juga-pernah-kena-sasaran [There's a video of the event]
http://jateng.tribunnews.com/2017/03/01/polres-brebes-hoax-info-orang-berpura-pura-gila-culik-anak-anak-viral-di-medsos?page=1
http://jateng.tribunnews.com/2017/03/01/astaga-pemuda-dipukuli-massa-setelah-dituduh-jadi-penculik-anak-anak-begini-penjelasan-polisi
Extras:
*As far as I know, and after a short google search, 'region' is synonym to 'province'.
**I have came across a good read, written by George Monbiot regarding our greatest peril, which is screening ourselves from reality. Immersed in life online, we start to imagine that nothing matters, such as racism, misogyny and resurgent fascism. Please try to read it: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/28/greatest-peril-screening-reality-4chan-pewdiepie-nothing-matters-fascism
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