Indonesia’s football tragedy puts the spotlight on its police force
It is widely seen as unaccountable and too powerful
After a painful 3-2 defeat to their arch-rivals Persebaya Surabaya on home turf in Malang, a city on the Indonesian island of Java, Arema Football Club’s players might have been dreading the customary talking-to from the manager. Instead, the dressing room in their Kanjuruhan Stadium became a place to line up corpses. Players cradled the bodies of dying fans. Out in the corridors, tear gas choked the air.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “A nation at a loss”
Asia October 8th 2022
- The gangs that kidnap Asians and force them to commit cyberfraud
- Many Japanese are still reluctant to go unmasked
- Indonesia’s football tragedy puts the spotlight on its police force
- India’s Congress party seems determined to prove its critics right
- What Pacific island states make of the great-power contest over them
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