Incidents Of Tragedy At The Kanjuruhan Stadium Can Be Prevented If A Collective Mentally Able To Be Guarded

The joint identification team from the Malang Police and the East Java Police conducted a crime scene of riots in front of the Kanjuruhan Stadium, Malang, East Java, Sunday (2/10/2022). (Antara/Ari Bowo Sucipto)

JAKARTA - Social psychologist Dr. JunemanAbraham, S.Psi, M.Sc. emphasized the importance of maintaining a collective mentality to prevent incidents like what happened at the Kanjuruhan Stadium, Malang, East Java after the Liga 1 soccer match between Persebaya Surabaya and AremaFC on Saturday (1/10).

Keeping a collective mentality of the masses positive is important so that when something goes wrong with expectations, people can still be rational in facing this incident.

"This is not a case of individual mental education, but a matter of the need for a good'mental model', fair, peaceful in a collective atmosphere. The masses can imitate or imitate a good model if there are many examples," said Junman who is also the Chairman of the Research and Publication Communications, Central Management of the Indonesian Psychological Association (HIMPSI) to Antara, Sunday.

The large pool of people or so-called masses in theory called "Social Psychoanalysis" is described as having a liquid character.

Liquid in a sense, even though it consists of a rational collection of people, there is always an opportunity for the masses to be impulsive or do something without thinking long, being reactive, easily offended, and easily imitating the actions of other parties who are members of the mass.

This condition also illustrates a collective mentality that can actually produce positive results if the echo and positive message are highlighted.

This condition is not only limited to football spectators, but also other mass groups in various lines of life such as concert audiences, even people who support the nomination of political figures.

For this reason, if you take the context of sports matches, it is better if a club experiences a support defeat as much as possible to respond to the defeat by being more mature and not expressing their emotions in a negative direction, such as saying inappropriate words or throwing things at the opposing club.

"So we all need to try to gather examples of good mass behavior (not only in sports context) and transmit these stories to each other," said Junman.

Juneman also mentioned that another lesson that can be learned is from an environmental psychology perspective.

Communications and responses of officers responsible for the order and security of a mass need to prioritize humane communication so that the goal of keeping an event conducive can be achieved.

"Responsors who overcome violence or riots with an 'instant gun' road need to always be marginalized as the main way. Officials need to build resilience or physical fortitude, thoughts, and emotions when dealing with the masses. This is very important," he said.

Meanwhile, when a harmonious relationship is built by security officers, such as the police and the community, communication such as appeals or invitations that are positive will be easier for the community to accept.

Finally, the learning learned is the importance of training "mental winners" in the community from an early age.

"Mental Pemenang" in question is not only able to beat opponents but mentally who can receive advantages and shortcomings of opponents and themselves.

Thus, when a match or activity does not meet expectations, both individually and in the masses, the public can respond wisely without the need to create events that harm many others.

The Head of the Communication and Public Service Bureau of the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, reported that until Sunday afternoon (2/10) based on a report from the Malang City Health Office, the riot incident killed 131 people.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) among the victims of the Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy, at least 17 children died and seven children were injured.