One week ago today, an angry mob beat, set on fire and killed a man, identified by police as MA, suspected of stealing an amplifier from a mosque in Bekasi. The case has been covered extensively by the media and haunted the nation, not because instances of mob violence are so rare Indonesia (they, unfortunately, are not) but because of the possibility that MA, who made his living repairing speakers, might have been innocent of the crime that he was killed for.
But some good might have come out of MA’s terrible death, as shown in this viral video that was posted by Instagram news feed @infia_fact yesterday showing its effect on an angry crowd, supposedly in Jakarta.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXf6afhH2Tz/?hl=en&taken-by=infia_fact
The video begins with a scene that is frighteningly familiar to many Indonesians. The young man in the blue shirt has been accused of stealing a motorcycle and is surrounded by dozens of angry locals. One person lashes out by repeatedly trying to hit the suspected thief with his helmet.
You can hear somebody say, “We’ll take him to the (police) post,” but it doesn’t calm the crowd, with many still trying to punch and kick at the boy, some grabbing at him as if to drag him away.
Then some hero shouts out, “It’s done, c’mon sir, don’t sir, don’t, don’t (let this become like the one who was burned before), don’t.”
Some still try to hit the suspected thief but enough give way that a few older men, including a security guard, are able to get the young man away from the angry crowd.
It could have gone much worse if the crowd had not been reminded about last week’s horrific killing of MA in Bekasi.
Although the Bekasi police have dismissed the possibility that MA might not have stolen the amplifier, the intense interest in the case did cause them to do something the Indonesian police have rarely done in past cases of mob killings – investigate and arrest those suspected of being involved in the murder. So far, police have arrested two suspects but say they are still searching for more.
