Deadly Indonesia prison fire highlights systemic problems
Sep 8, 2021
Overcrowding, mass escapes, protest riots, extremism and corruption: Indonesia’s prisons have long been a hotbed of problems
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Overcrowding, mass escapes, protest riots, extremism and corruption: Indonesia’s prisons have long been a hotbed of problems. On Wednesday it was tragedy, as a fire ripped through a block of the Tangerang prison on the outskirts of Jakarta, killing more than 40 and injuring twice that number. Authorities say their initial investigation is pointing to an electrical short circuit as the cause of the blaze. Here is a look at some of the issues the prison system has faced in recent years:
OVERCROWDING, UNDERFUNDING AND UNDERSTAFFING
Tangerang prison was built to hold 900 prisoners but currently has more than 2,000. Block C, where the fire broke out early Wednesday, houses primarily drug offenders. Its 19 cells, meant to hold 40 inmates, had more than triple that.
More than half of the inmates in Indonesia’s prison system have been convicted in the country’s war on drugs. In an amnesty last year meant to reduce numbers as COVID-19 rampaged through the prisons early in the pandemic, the government released tens of thousands of people who had served at least two-thirds of their sentences.
According to the department of corrections, as of July there were 268,610 inmates in Indonesia's prisons, which were built to hold 132,107 people.
An independent study in 2018 by University of Indonesia researchers found there was only one officer for every 55 inmates.
EXTREMISM
Following an Islamic extremist attack in 2002 on the tourist island of Bali when Jemaah Islamiyah militants bombed nightclubs, killing 202 people, mostly foreigners, Indonesian security forces embarked on a wide crackdown, crushing the network and arresting hundreds.
But once in prison, the lack of close supervision meant that they and other extremists were able to recruit more followers and direct supporters outside the walls.
Experts have noted that at least 18 former prisoners have been involved in extremist cases in the past decade, and most were radicalized in prison.
In the trial of Aman Abdurrahman, who was sentenced to death in 2018, the radical cleric was found to have incited and directed several attacks by his followers, including a 2016 suicide bombing at a Starbucks in Jakarta, while he was in prison. Abdurrahman, who was serving a terrorism-related sentence, was able to communicate with his supporters on the outside through visitors and video calls.
PRISON BREAKS
Jailbreaks have been common in recent years in Indonesia, where the lack of supervision and sometimes crumbling structures combine to make escape an attractive option to inmates, sometimes en masse.
A year ago, a Chinese inmate who was on death row for drug smuggling tunneled his way out of Tangerang prison using stolen tools over a period of six months. His body was found in a town a month later in what police called a suicide.
In 2017, at a prison in western Indonesia where there was frequent unrest due to overcrowding, dozens of inmates were able to escape one night after floods caused a wall to collapse. A few months earlier, dozens of others escaped during a riot in which a prison block was set on fire. Most were recaptured in both cases.
At the time, the prison, built for 350 inmates, held 1,238.
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation, and several notable escapes have taken advantage of daily prayer time.
In 2018, more than 100 inmates overpowered a guard after being let out of their cells for evening prayers at the Lambaro penitentiary in Aceh province, then dashed out through gaps in the wire and iron bars they had cut in advance.
The year before, more than 440 prisoners escaped from a penitentiary in neighboring Riau province when they also took advantage of Friday Muslim prayers.
IS ANYTHING BEING DONE?
The government recognizes there is a problem and plans to refocus its approach toward drug offenders as part of the solution, said Reyhard Silitonga, the head of corrections at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. It intends to start looking at drug offenders as addicts who need treatment rather than criminals, and focus on rehabilitation rather than incarceration, he told The Associated Press.
Currently, of 139,088 convicts in drug cases, 101,032 are serving terms of less than 10 years for offenses involving only small quantities of narcotics.
He said re-directing drug users into rehabilitation programs will vastly reduce the number of people in prisons and alleviate most of the problems. If a solution is not found, he predicted that over the next five years the prison population could top 400,000.
___
Rising reported from Bangkok.
More News
Southeast Asia faces ‘sleeper’ food crisis from Hormuz fertiliser bottleneck
A hunger crisis could creep up on Southeast Asia if the region does not guard against export restrictions amid a fertiliser shortfall, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Secretary General John Denton has warned. On the sidelines of the Future of Trade Forum in Singapore on Wednesday, Denton urged the city state, as the next Asean chair, to prioritise the “sleeper issue” for the region. He argued that the real story centred on food, despite the Strait of Hormuz gridlock being widely seen as...
Turkish Confectioner Hands Out Doughnuts to Honor the Dead
In Turkey, people who have recently lost loved ones hire doughnut makers to hand out fried dough balls, known as lokma, to honor the dead and spread their blessings.
Seoul residents up in arms over school for North Korean defectors
Residents of a district in the South Korean capital of Seoul are up in arms over plans to build a permanent school for North Korean defectors in their neighbourhood. The dispute escalated to the point where the school’s principal dropped to her knees to beg protesters to “embrace the children”, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported. Yeomyung School, which educates middle and high school students who fled North Korea or are children of North Korean defectors, has been unable to afford its own...
Can India curb childhood obesity by banning junk food near schools?
Shivanjali Singh has worked hard to raise two healthy, athletic children in India, but worries about their ability to resist the lure of junk food constantly surrounding them. Her children, aged 14 and 10, are national-level skaters and have grown up on home-cooked food and drinks such as coconut water rather than fizzy drinks and crisps. Yet Singh, who lives in Noida in the National Capital Region, sees sugary drinks and unhealthy snacks everywhere from school surroundings to sports...
Behind closed doors, a fatal beating exposes Malaysia’s parallel boarding school rules
The death of a 14-year-old student at a Malaysian boarding school has renewed scrutiny over student safety, raising questions over whether reforms introduced after the high-profile death of Zara Qairina Mahathir last year have changed what happens behind dormitory doors. Police in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, have detained two 16-year-old students as they investigate the death of Muhammad Idlan Fareeq Shahril. They said Idlan was caught vaping by a hostel warden on September 23. Two days later,...
Singapore jails man for slapping preschooler at bus stop over rude gesture
A man became angry after a four-year-old boy pointed his middle finger at him while he was picking up his son from preschool in Singapore. He pursued the boy to a nearby bus stop that was crowded with other young kids, grabbed the boy by the arm and slapped him hard on both cheeks. The boy, who was his son’s schoolmate, suffered bruises on his face and ringing in his ear, on top of emotional trauma that lingered for months and required his parents to change his preschool. The aggressor, Muhammad...
Malaysia Begins Repatriation of Migrants to War-Torn Myanmar Despite Critics’ Warnings
Malaysia says it is repatriating undocumented migrants from Myanmar who want to return. Critics say it is putting their lives at risk.
Philippines urged to adopt Malaysia’s lasting tourism strategy
Philippine senators have urged the Department of Tourism to stick with a single marketing campaign to build long-term international recognition, pointing to long-running successes such as Malaysia’s “Truly Asia” tagline. Newly appointed Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay was asked about her plans for the current slogan, “Love the Philippines”, during a departmental budget hearing on Monday, the Philippine Star reported. Senate finance subcommittee chairman Erwin Tulfo suggested keeping the...
Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong stocks face bumpy fourth quarter as risks mount: analysts
Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stocks may face a challenging fourth quarter as investors contend with underwhelming stimulus measures from Beijing, tighter financial conditions in the US and a shift in the narrative around the artificial intelligence trade, according to analysts. The two markets were likely to consolidate throughout the rest of the year to digest the negatives before settling on a clearer direction, according to brokerages including Zheshang Securities and CCB International. CCB...
US social media users urge Koreans to unmask Cornell sexual assault suspect Winston Lee
The sprawling online hunt for information about Winston Lee, a Korean student who is among seven defendants in a Cornell University sexual assault lawsuit, is increasingly crossing borders, with English-speaking social media users calling on their Korean counterparts to help uncover more information about him. As the “Cornell 7” case continues to draw intense attention across the United States, Lee has become the subject of a parallel search focused on his Korean identity and background....
Chinese firms trail global peers on profits, but AI power boom offers bright spot: Natixis
China’s corporate sector remains considerably weaker than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the country is emerging as a key beneficiary of the global artificial intelligence boom thanks to its ample power capacity, according to a Natixis survey of thousands of firms and a separate research report. Profit margins at Chinese firms had stabilised at about 4.5 per cent for the first half of 2026, but remained well below the nearly 9 per cent recorded by their global peers, according to the...
Malaysia’s Mahathir in hospital for observation a day after wife’s death
Malaysia’s two-time prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has been admitted to hospital for observation, his office confirmed on Wednesday, in the latest health scare involving the 101-year-old. Mahathir was admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) on Tuesday night, barely a day after his wife of 70 years, Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, died at the same hospital. It is unclear why the former leader was admitted. Sufi Yusoff, Mahathir’s long-time aide, told reporters that they were awaiting diagnosis...