Official, experts push for use of lie detectors<\/p>\n
By Joko E.H. Anwar<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A Cabinet minister and experts have urged law
\nenforcers to start using lie detectors in probing crime cases,
\nparticularly high-profile scams, many of which remain unresolved.<\/p>\n
Contacted by The Jakarta Post over the weekend, the officials
\nsaid the use of detectors, also known as polygraphs, did not
\nviolate any rules.<\/p>\n
According to Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, the tool \"can
\nspeed up\" investigations.<\/p>\n
\"We (the country) already have lie detectors but they have not
\nbeen used optimally,\" Marzuki said over the phone on Sunday.<\/p>\n
He, however, suggested that they should only be used by
\nqualified personnel.<\/p>\n
Senior legal expert Bismar Siregar said law enforcers should
\nbe open to new developments in technology to help garner the
\ntruth from suspects and witnesses, regardless of the absence of
\nlaws regulating the use of the device.<\/p>\n
\"We don't have to wait for a regulation, just use them.<\/p>\n
\"If detectors at ports could detect illegal business, why
\nshould we reject (the use of the device)?\" he said.<\/p>\n
Deputy secretary-general of the National Mandate Party (PAN)
\nBara Hasibuan said polygraphs should be used in the
\ninvestigations of top-priority cases, such as the July 27, 1996
\nattack on the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Headquarters,
\nBaligate and the most recent Bulogate scandal.<\/p>\n
\"It's time to use lie detectors to find out who gave false
\nconfessions,\" Bara said.<\/p>\n
Criminologist Mulyana W. Kusumah from the University of
\nIndonesia said the results of the polygraphs were valid and used
\nin many other countries.<\/p>\n
But, he added, the results only stood as supporting indicators
\nfor the law enforcers to verify a person's statement.<\/p>\n
\"It's legally acceptable, but only as an indicator, just like
\na tape recorder,\" Mulyana said.<\/p>\n
National Police detectives have so far named only civilians in
\nthe 1996 bloody attack on the PDI Headquarters in Central
\nJakarta. Like in many other cases, most of then top military,
\npolice and government officials repeatedly denied their alleged
\nroles in the attack.<\/p>\n
Last year's Bank Bali scandal, which was linked to former
\npresident B.J. Habibie's administration, involved Rp 546 billion
\nin taxpayers' money and was also unresolved because investigators
\nfailed to explain what happen to the money after suspects and
\nwitnesses made contradictory statements.<\/p>\n
The public fears that the ongoing investigation of the Rp 35
\nbillion Bulog (the State Logistics Agency) scandal, which
\nallegedly involved people close to President Abdurrahman Wahid,
\nwill also end in a mystery.<\/p>\n
An executive from the newly founded Indonesian Police Watch,
\nAdnan Pandupraja, from the School of Law at the University of
\nIndonesia, said that a lie detector test could be used as the
\nlast option when police investigators were no longer able to
\ncollect information from a person.<\/p>\n
\"A lie detector is used as a device to pressure a suspect
\nduring questioning so that he or she is no longer able to deny
\ninvolvement in something,\" Adnan said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Lie detectors were developed as a scientific method to uncover
\nlies by measuring the physiological changes in a person's body
\nwhich the devices are believed to be able to show when he or she
\ntells a lie.<\/p>\n
The machine records changes in the pulse and blood pressure,
\nbreathing and galvanic skin response, which is the amount of
\nmoisture secreted by the skin.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on their
\nhomepage states that polygraph testing could decrease the overall
\ncost of investigations, and provide valuable investigative leads
\nwhich could not otherwise be developed due to a lack of evidence
\nor other noteworthy information.<\/p>\n
But Col. Saleh Saaf of the National Police information unit
\nsaid he did not support the use of polygraphs in police
\nquestioning.<\/p>\n
\"In any criminal case, the police aren't solely after the
\nsuspect's confession,\" he said, adding that the police should be
\nable to resolve an investigation from the available hard evidence
\nand witnesses' cross checked statements.<\/p>\n
\"Let them (the suspects) lie. It's their right,\" Saleh said.<\/p>\n
According to Saleh, polygraphs were not effective when used on
\ncertain people.<\/p>\n
\"A cold-blooded person will not show changes in their pulse,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Separately, police detectives in the East Java capital of
\nSurabaya used polygraphs on Saturday in questioning Soemarjono, a
\nprime suspect in the production and distribution of counterfeit
\nlocal currency valued at billions of rupiah.<\/p>\n
Legal expert Adi Andojo, a former Supreme Court justice, said
\nthat the results collected from the use of lie detectors in
\nprobing a case would later face difficulty in the courts due to
\nthe lack of a ruling.<\/p>\n
\"There are only five types of legal evidence, namely from
\nwitnesses, suspects, experts, documents and investigative leads
\nwhich have to be supported by other evidence,\" Adi said on
\nSaturday.<\/p>\n
Bara of PAN said that Indonesia still has no laws that
\nregulate the use of polygraphs.<\/p>\n
But, he said, police and the attorney general's officials have
\nthe right to seek the most effective way of investigating a case.<\/p>\n
\"If (polygraphs) can raise the quality of an investigation,
\nwhy not (use them)?\" Bara said.<\/p>",
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