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I’m not a big fan of action movies. Most of action movies rely heavily on hot-shot action types rather than developing strong story plot. However, it’s not the case with Dark Night, the latest sequel of DC Comics superhero. Although the movie doesn’t dwell too much on story plot, it surely delivers strong message with great relevance with current circumstances.

I cannot stop thinking that Gotham City resembles Indonesia very much. Gotham is decorated with corrupted, deceitful law enforcers added with an ever growing influence from the mob. It is where atrocities are deemed as everyday occasions and police impotence is undeniable. In Indonesia, the mobs don’t shoot and slaughter, that is fortunately the difference between this country and imaginary Gotham City.

But corrupted officials do exist both in Gotham and Indonesia, even worse in Indonesia probably. Not only law enforcers, but also law makers, regulators, to large company’s executives are all entangled one way or another with corruptive actions. Every day, those criminals in Armani suit rob Indonesian people in front of their noses.

An avid newspaper reader might argue that conditions are changing. With so many exposures on several member of the House, at least people can start to hope that we are in track to a clean government. One question lingers in my brain: to what extent the investigation of such officials will carry on? Media exposures are important. They spread the information on how this country is managed for the readers, the stakeholder of Indonesia. But what we really need is much more than just media exposures.

If we compare between petty thief and corruptor, the treatment received by both criminals is totally far fetched. If you get caught stealing somebody else’s purse, then rest assure you’ll have bad bruises all over your body. Sometimes, if you get lucky you will get hospitalized but if not you’ll go straight into police custody with wounds and swollen eye intact. But if you are investigated for corruption case, at least you can be sure that you won’t endure such physical damage. Even better, you can hire the best lawyers in this country to defend you since your crime is so sophisticated it takes not only one or two, but a team with the same size as a basketball team to back you up, something unimaginable for a small-time thief.

I still believe, however, that every person deserves a fair trial, including a proper lawyer. But when I realize that the more money you have, the better lawyers you can afford, the term “fair trial” becomes a blurry concept. Not to mention guilty-until-proven-otherwise approach that sometimes abused by supporters of politicians under investigation. They stubbornly keep the accused on their positions until a final and binding decision given by the court. And I suppose that includes appeal efforts taken afterward.

I can’t even remember how many times I’ve gritted my teeth after reading newspaper articles on alleged member of the House. If those are the people I will vote for the next election, I’d rather not to. Irresponsible as people might say, I firmly believe it’s better than violently protesting over government’s enacted resolutions. After all, civil disobedience is also a form of action, better than violence by far.

We are decent men trying to live in an indecent world, that’s what Harvey Dent said in the end of Dark Night movie. And that statement lingers until now. The people in Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) are indeed decent men. But they submit what they’ve done to the court, I’m afraid all the hours they’ve given for the effort are left with indecent people also deeply entangled with another net of corrupted officials.

It’s too bad that we don’t have a Bruce Wayne; someone who acts outside the system and sometimes against the system but eventually delivers what supposedly delivered by the system. The Dark Night becomes the answer of Harvey Dent’s concern. It is indeed we cannot live with the system as long as people who create the system are deemed indecent.

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