After the third such incident in one month, it seems like the greatest threat to Indonesian airport security guards may not be criminals or terrorists, but imperious officials and their kin who think the rules don’t apply to them.
Yesterday, the above photo of a bloodied airport security guard, along with a story explaining how he was allegedly beaten by a member of the Indonesian military (TNI) at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport early on Sunday morning went viral on social media.
When asked by the media about the story last night, Soekarno-Hatta Airport officials confirmed that a TNI member had attacked one of their security guards in a manner similar to the viral story, but did not disclose any exact information confirming or denying the details in the post.
“The information that I got was like that, but, for the details, we need to learn more first,” Soekarno-Hatta Airport communications manager Dewandono Prasetyo Nugroho told Kompas when contacted on Sunday night.
According to a version of the post on the POJOK KIRI Malang Raya Facebook Group, the incident took place early on Sunday morning at about 4am. The TNI member, alleged to be a navy officer, arrived at the airport to accompany his parents and brother-in-law, who were set to fly to Jayapura, Papua.
https://www.facebook.com/ryu.otomotif.3/posts/119880715318732
The navy officer apparently wanted to go through the first security checkpoint so that he could help his family members check in. As members of the public are not allowed to enter the check in area at Soekarno-Hatta without a ticket, the post says the officer asked to see the OIC (officer in charge) but the OIC was not available.
Eventually, the officer was allowed through by the security guard. But upon arriving at the check-in desk, he was told that his family was already too late to board their flight. The airline told him that they could board the next flight to Jayapura, but that it would cost them Rp 9 million.
According to the post, the officer then went back to the security guard who let him through and shouted at him “You’re the reason my family was late.”
The security guard replied, “That is not my business.”
That answer seemed to set off the officer, and he then attacked the guard, hitting him until his lips were bleeding. Other security guards quickly intervened to stop the fight.
Airport officials have not yet released any more information regarding the incident.
There were two other reported incidences of similar attacks on security guards at Indonesian airports in July. The first involved the wife of a police general who was filmed slapping a security officer at Manado’s Sam Ratulangi Airport. She was later questioned by police but it remains to be seen if she will continue to be investigated for assault after her victim publicly accepted her apology.
The next week, a military doctor, identified as AG, allegedly slapped an airport security officer at a security checkpoint in Soekarno-Hatta because the latter was supposedly being impolite towards him. The incident was not reported to the police because the two had already apologized and made peace with each other.
In the wake of the second incident, Soekarno-Hatta management said that the airport’s 2,000 security employees would undergo training on how to be more friendly and to smile more when passengers go through security checkpoints.
