SMRC Survey: People's Fear Of Arbitrary Arrests By The Police Increases

ILLUSTRATION / HOLD (PIXABAY)

JAKARTA - The Saiful Mujani Research Center (SMRC) Survey Institute conducted an opinion poll regarding the public's fear of arbitrary arrest by law enforcement officials.

As a result, 32 percent of the people admitted to being always and often afraid of arbitrary arrests by the police to the community. Meanwhile, the respondents who rarely felt afraid were 30.4 percent, 29.4 percent never felt afraid, and 8.4 percent did not answer.

The SMRC Program Manager Saidiman Ahmad explained the trend in the number of respondents who were afraid of arbitrary attitudes by law enforcement officials.

In July 2009, 23 percent of those who said they were always or often felt afraid, then increased to 32 percent in April 2014, then fell back to 24 percent in July 2014, then increased again to 38 percent in May 2019, and 32 percent in March 2021 .

"If we look at it in general since 2009, the trend in the number of people who feel that they are always or are often afraid of arbitrary arrest by law enforcement agencies has increased," Saidiman said in a virtual presentation of the survey, Tuesday, April 6.

In addition, Saidiman also explained the survey results from the current perception that people are afraid to join in organizations. As a result, as many as 19.7 percent of the people admitted that they were always or often afraid to organize, 34.5 percent admitted that they were rarely afraid, 36.4 percent were never afraid, and 9.4 percent did not answer.

Seeing the trend of being afraid of participating in organizations, the number of respondents who said they were always or were often afraid also increased. In July 2009 it was 9 percent, then 14 percent in April 2014, 10 percent in July 2014, and 20 percent in May 2019 and March 2021.

"This means that more and more people think that now people are afraid to organize," he said.

This survey was conducted in the period 28 February to 8 March 2021 with respondents who were Indonesian citizens who were 17 years old or over, or had already married when the survey was conducted.

The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews with 1,220 randomly selected respondents. There is also an estimated margin of error of this survey at around 3.07 percent and a survey confidence level of 95 percent.