Incidents of angry mobs taking justice into their own hands by beating and often killing thieves are unfortunately not uncommon in Indonesia. A young man in East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara might have become the victim of one such mob if it had not been for the intervention of one brave police officer.
The incident took place on Dec 29 and was recounted today in a post on the Indonesian Police Public Relations Division’s Facebook page.
According to police the 18-year-old man, identified by his initials SH, was riding on his motorcycle through East Lombok’s Kilang village on his way to buy some chilis when he saw two unattended chickens near the road. He grabbed the chickens but was seen by the owner of the ayam who tried to pursue him.
SH panicked and tried to escape on his motorcycle, but was forced to slow down because of roadwork. Locals saw the chickens’ owner chasing him and realized what SH had done. They quickly apprehended the young man and some started beating him.
Some, but not all. A few instead went to tell a local officer, Police Chief Brigadir (Bripka) Supriadi, what was going on. Supriadi had only begun working in the area about three months previously.
Supriadi immediately drove to the crime scene and saw that SH was getting beaten by mob. He immediately pushed his way through the crowd and grabbed SH protectively. He pleaded with the people surrounding them to not take justice into their own hands and to let the young man be processed by the law for his crimes – all while SH held onto him for dear life.
Supriadi had also called for reinforcements and soon after more police officers arrived to help evacuate him and SH to the nearest police station, after which the mob finally dispersed.
SH remains in police custody while his case is being handled. His family came to visit him and sought out Supriadi to thank them for protecting SH and possibly saving his life.
West Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Omar Septono heard about Supriadi’s bravery and gave him an award for carrying out his duties with honor and professionalism.
Bripka Supriadi stands alongside other heroic cops such as Bripka Seladi (the police officer in Malang who was praised last year for making money on the side by scavenging trash while refusing to take bribes) and Sragen Police Chief Cahyo Widiarso (who stood up to the FPI and refused to let them sweep a supermarket in a video that went viral last month) as proof that there are in fact many exemplary police officers in Indonesia who are willing to take big risks in order to do the right thing.
