Sultan HB X Says Handling Klitih Needs A Family Approach

Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X (Photo: Luqman Hakim/Antara)

JAKARTA - The Governor of the Special Region of Yogyakarta Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X said handling cases of "klitih", or street crimes committed by minors, requires a holistic approach to the family.

Sultan HB X conveyed this in Yogyakarta, Wednesday, responding to the "klitih" case that has re-emerged in Yogyakarta.

"So we have to collect all of that (the families of the perpetrators of delinquency or crime, ed.), we provide understanding for dialogue. Yes, it's not easy if it's just one family, ten 'klitih' people will mean ten heads of families," he said, as quoted by Antara, December 29.

The DIY local government once had a consulting agency that he formed specifically to deal with child delinquency.

However, in practice, the institution needs to approach parents and relatives of perpetrators of delinquency or crimes that require high costs.

"At that time they asked for this (it costs money, ed.) Rp3 million to Rp4 million to handle one family. For me, it is still too expensive. We need to find another that is more feasible," he said.

Various coaching efforts, according to Sultan, have been carried out to deal with "klitih" perpetrators, especially minors, but they always face challenges in the field.

Reflecting on the series of issues he presented, he assessed that more effective efforts were needed to minimize the appearance of child delinquency.

"So maybe that's what we need to pay attention to. So maybe we can talk further, we can go into their rooms," said the King of the Yogyakarta Palace.

Yogyakarta Regional Secretary Kadarmanta Baskara Aji said that the Yogyakarta Regional Government is currently preparing a program for fostering minors who are in conflict with the law and have diversion status, particularly in relation to street crime cases.

"The mission is to nurture these 'klitih' perpetrators before being returned to their families and communities," he said.

The coaching program, he said, would be supported by several regional apparatus organizations (OPD) as well as the Office of Women's Empowerment, Child Protection, and Population Control (DP3AP2) DIY.

The "klitih" action took place on Kaliurang Street, Ngaglik Sub-district, Sleman on Monday (27/12) early morning which resulted in the victim suffering injuries to his palms, front teeth, and back.

In connection with this case, the police have arrested six people, one of whom is still a student.

Deputy Chief of the Yogyakarta Special Region Police Brigadier General Pol R. Slamet Santoso said there were 58 cases of "klitih" cases in DIY during 2021 with the number of perpetrators reaching 102 people. The number of cases has increased compared to last year's 52 cases.

Of the 102 perpetrators, he said, most or 80 of them were still students, the rest were unemployed.