Police are Lying Low

People who are lying down may usually be in a position to avoid something. The police seem to find it better to “lie down” or lie low. That is to minimize the excesses of the backlash.

During several days in Malang, East Java, not long ago, I found a flurry of banners adorning the city. They carry the public’s expressions of wrath at the Kanjuruhan deadly riot on 1 Oct. 2022.

As we all know, the tragedy unfolded when security personnel from the Elite Mobile Brigade Unit (Brimob) fired tear gas to break up a section of rioting spectators down the field at the end of the Arema FC-Persebaya match. That caused panicking inside the Kanjuruhan Stadium.