Indonesia: Soldier Loses His Temper in the Street · Global Voices
Agung Harsya

Early this month, a two-minute video clip of an armed-man confronting a civilian in Indonesia circulated on YouTube and became a trending topic on Twitter.
The video, “Koboy Palmerah”, literally means “Palmerah Cowboy”. Palmerah is a busy street in west Jakarta. It showed a man with white t-shirt confronting a motorcyclist after they were both involved in a crash. The man brandishing a pistol and a stick opened fire into the air more than once. The license plate of the “cowboy” car reportedly belongs to an Indonesian military officer.
Here are some reactions of netizens. Raihan wrote in his blog:
Setelah bolak-balik memutar Video Koboy Palmerah ini, saya menyangka aparat lieur ini habis nonton film The Raid, berambisi mungkin untuk menjadi pemeran utamanya…
…Kalau aparat sudah berlagak koboy begini masihkan bisa disebut Pelindung, Pelayan, dan Pengayom Masyarakat?
After watching the video over and over again, I think the soldier got confused after watching The Raid (a box office action Indonesian movie), maybe he wants to be included in the movie…
…If an officer acts like a cowboy, can we still call him ‘to protect and serve the people'?
Some Twitter reactions:
@dtgbulan: yg namanya menembak sipil itu tetap melanggar hukum
@budiman_hakim: “Kadispen TNI AD: “Tindakan Koboy Palmerah hanya untuk membela diri.” Do you expect people to accept that?
@littlemoodycat: is this what policemen do these days???
@arisetyo: parah, malu-maluin banget kelakuan aparat negara ini..
@asepbs: Wrong man behind the gun in the wrong place
@FadjarArianto: jika bertemu dgn Kapten Arluthfi (Koboy Palmerah), mari kita sama2 pukul kepalanya dgn pentungan! #ArogansiTNI
One day after the incident, police admitted that there's a car grazed in the location shown in the video. According to Tempo, the car driver is a captain in the army and the motorcyclist is a civilian. Because of the incident, the military police came and brought the captain to their station. Military police will follow up the investigation.
Meanwhile, the soldier came up with his version. In a statement given by the head of communication of the Indonesian national army, he said the gun he used was only an airsoft gun. He lost his temper because the motorcyclist yelled at him and banged at his window.