Police personnel being trained for presidential guard<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The National Police announced on Monday that
\nsome 200 police personnel had been undergoing training since last
\nmonth to become members of the newly established presidential
\nsecurity guard.<\/p>\n
Sr. Supt. Saleh Saaf, an officer at the information department
\nof the National Police Headquarters, said the training was part
\nof a plan to replace the old Presidential Security Guards
\n(Paspampres), which consisted of military members, with police
\npersonnel as recommended by Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono
\non June 1.<\/p>\n
\"About 100 of those personnel were recruited from the National
\nPolice's Mobile Brigade corps (Brimob), while the rest were
\nselected from other police units,\" Saleh told reporters at his
\noffice.<\/p>\n
He declined to comment on whether members of Banser, a militia
\nunder the supervision of the 30-million strong Nadhlatul Ulama
\n(NU) Muslim organization, were also recruited as members of the
\nnew presidential guard.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman Wahid is a former chairman of NU.<\/p>\n
Saleh said the personnel were carefully selected because of
\ntheir important tasks of maintaining the safety of the country's
\nnumber-one figure.<\/p>\n
\"The recruited personnel are those who have very good physical
\nhealth, intellectual ability and are emotionally mature,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Saleh did not disclose the total number of personnel
\nrecruited.<\/p>\n
\"We will continue recruiting personnel, but I don't know yet
\nwhether the number of the new presidential guard members will be
\nthe same as the current Paspampres personnel,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The current presidential guard, which is located on Jl. Tanah
\nAbang II in Central Jakarta, has some 1,600 members. It consists
\nof troops from various units, such as the military police, the
\nArmy's Special Force (Kopassus) and the Army's Strategic Reserves
\nCommand (Kostrad).<\/p>\n
It is divided into three groups: Group A to protect the
\npresident, Group B to protect the vice president and Group C to
\nprotect state guests.<\/p>\n
Paspampres is now led by Brig. Gen. I Putu Sastra.<\/p>\n
Serpong<\/p>\n
National Police chief Gen. Rusdihardjo said on Thursday that
\nPaspampres would soon be dissolved and the duty would be handed
\nover to the police personnel.<\/p>\n
The four-star general, however, did not disclose when the plan
\nwould be carried out.<\/p>\n
This shift of responsibility comes as part of the police's
\nseparation from the Indonesian Military (TNI), which will take
\neffect in January 2001.<\/p>\n
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dadang Garnida said on
\nThursday the change of duty could not be avoided since
\nmilitaristic attributes no longer suited the era of reform.<\/p>\n
\"We are facing an era of civil society today. Military deals
\nwith national defense affairs, while the police are responsible
\nfor the people's security matters, including to secure the
\npresident and the vice president,\" he said after a gathering of
\nretired high-ranking police personnel here.<\/p>\n
Saleh said several trainers from the old Paspampres had been
\nrecruited to train the personnel.<\/p>\n
\"The training is taking place at the police's training and
\neducation center (Pusdiklat) in Serpong, west of here,\" he said,
\nadding that the training was in line with international
\nstandards.<\/p>\n
\"However, adjustments have been made, since our President has
\na more liberal policy on presidential security matters,\" he said,
\nreferring to Abdurrahman's penchant for relaxing presidential
\nprotocol. (asa)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/police-personnel-being-trained-for-presidential-guard-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}