Thuggery, how do we see it?

The arrest of Jhon Kei has been the headline of some capital mass media these days. But who is Jhon Kei? This name might not be heard for many people before or it might be strange for other, but for the capital police, this name has brought them a special fear and terror. Why?

Jhon Kei is a leader of one of the three capital thug groups. Jhon Kei has involved in 12 crimes registered by the police. It means that he is a citizen under a special attention of the police for his actions and criminal involvements.

Here I would like to see the thuggery phenomenon. How do we see it? Is it an Indonesian particular phenomenon or does it happen in other countries as well? Is it the problem of civilization or of the unemployment?

First of all, thuggery is not an Indonesian particular phenomenon. This occurs and exists also in other society. In the so called now developed countries, long before, this phenomenon happened and even until now. It means that thuggery is a global phenomenon.

Well, if the thuggery is a global phenomenon, my question, does it the problem of civilization? How do we clasiify the thuggery from the point of view of civilization? If we see thuggery as a crime phenomenon and crime as a lack of virtue and this in turn is seen as a lack of civilization, then we can conclude that the thuggery is a lack of civilization. But is it as simple as that? Does the civilization here mentioned refer to a society as a whole? Or does it refer to a particular group?

The category of civilization is always extended. It is a category of mental rather than spatial one. We hear for example the European civilization or the Chinese civilization etc. We never heard people say 'it is his personal civilization', they say on the contrary that 'it is his habit or their habit'.

This itinerary leads us to the conclusion that thuggery is the problem of personal/ group habit and mentality.Thus such gang of thugs leaded by as Jhon Kei, Hercules etc appear as a sign of personal/ group mental and habit problem rather than a problem of civilization.