Recently, a case of mob justice/vigilantism that resulted in a fatality went viral in Sukolilo, Pati Regency, Central Java Province. The incident of mob violence that killed a rental car business owner from Jakarta occurred in Sumbersoko Village, Sukolilo District, Pati Regency on Thursday, June 6, 2024.
This incident began with a misunderstanding where residents mistook the victim’s group for thieves. Three people have been named as suspects in this case.
Chronology of the Viral Car Rental Boss Case
According to detik.com, the chronology of events is as follows: The rental boss with the initials BH and three friends came to Pati to retrieve a lost car. They tracked the car’s location using GPS. On Thursday (6/6) around 1:00 PM, the group arrived in the Sukolilo area using a Sigra car.
The victim BH found the sought-after car parked in the yard of suspect AG. BH immediately opened the car using a spare key and drove it. His three companions followed in the Sigra car. This action aroused suspicion among local residents. One resident shouted “thief!”, which prompted other residents to chase the group. The victim’s group separated while fleeing, but residents continued to pursue them.
The four victims were eventually caught and assaulted by the mob. Police received a report of the incident and immediately went to the location to evacuate the victims. Unfortunately, victim BH died as a result of the assault.
Pati Police Chief, Senior Commissioner Andhika Bayu Adhittama, also explained that this incident stemmed from a misunderstanding. The victim’s group actually came to retrieve their lost car, but their hasty actions and failure to communicate with the homeowner aroused residents’ suspicions.
This case demonstrates the importance of communication and caution in situations that could potentially lead to misunderstandings. The act of mob justice by the masses is also a serious concern, given the fatal consequences it can cause.
The police have followed up on this case by naming three suspects. Further investigation is still being conducted to uncover the details of the incident and ensure the legal process proceeds according to procedure.
Digitally ‘Assaulted’ in Return
In response to the assault case resulting in the death of the car rental boss, public reactions continue to pour in. Most defend the late BH, who indeed had the right to reclaim his car.
It didn’t stop there; netizens again became busy retaliating against the cruelty in Sukolilo with the emergence of a viral announcement from a car rental owner with the Instagram account @erwin_commercial_driver from Yogyakarta, who explicitly forbids renting his cars to anyone with a Pati ID card and doesn’t serve the Pati area at all, even canceling orders serving Pati residents.
Netizens immediately responded positively, although there were indeed a handful of Pati residents who felt this was excessive and shouldn’t punish all Pati people in such a way.
Interestingly, the context expanded. In the comments section of Erwin’s post, netizens shared unpleasant stories about the behavior of Pati residents who had been friends, neighbors, business partners, or customers. On average, they all complained about negative behavior, seemingly validating Erwin’s decision to boycott Pati and all its people.
Not only that, according to branding expert Yuswohady, it was stated that netizens also took revenge on Pati residents through various means on the Internet. What’s easily visible is marking several locations in Sukolilo Pati as “killer village” and “Sukolilo city of receivers”, “life-taking village”, “Sukokroyok”, “thieves’ village”, “Sukomaling haircut”, “Sukolilo land of fire hell on earth”, “Sukolilo Pertamina gas station receivers”, “red zone for car and motorcycle rentals” on Google Maps so that anyone using this application can see it.
Digital Vigilantism When Law Enforcement is Dysfunctional
What happened in Pati is closely related to digital vigilantism that has emerged as a unique local phenomenon.
Summarized from tandofline.com, this digital vigilantism involves the mobilization of netizens to monitor and harass individuals suspected of committing crimes through digital media. Although the late BH had reported the theft of his rental car to East Jakarta police, the National Police stated that “the speed of handling each case varies” and due to the lengthy handling, BH acted on his own.
What BH and netizens did could reflect the occurrence of “autonomization,” where citizen involvement is voluntary and spontaneous when law enforcement is slow to work. Digital vigilantism is defined as a process where citizens are collectively offended by the activities of other citizens and respond through coordinated retaliation on digital media platforms. In the Sukolilo case, netizens were generally moved to help provide social sanctions against all Sukolilo and Pati residents because they were considered to have allowed fencing to occur for many years.
Due to the accumulated frustration of netizens who felt they had been victims of crime in Sukolilo and Pati, they collectively shared bitter stories of dealing with Sukolilo and Pati residents in general.
This practice can often be categorized as “naming and shaming” or “weaponizing visibility” by publishing location data of the target’s place of origin.
Digital media like Google Maps and social media platforms have removed geographical barriers and blurred the line between online activities and offline consequences.
In the case of the beating of rental boss BH in Sukolilo Pati, we can witness the role of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok in shaping netizens’ anger once this case went viral.
Digital vigilantism can also be used to create social justice and progressive goals such as fighting sexual violence, or for right-wing populist purposes such as attacking minorities and migrants. Public perception of legitimacy is often based on ideological context rather than legal principles. (*/)
