City police ask for criticism from Jakartans

City police ask for criticism from Jakartans

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): The city police are asking Jakartans for a
"special" gift for their 49th birthday: criticism.

"The police cannot do much to improve its services, and know
what its weaknesses are, without criticism from the public," City
Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said last week.

The two-star general's sincere call prompted a quick response
from a journalist.

The reporter, an old face at the police beat, raised his hand
and said, "But Sir, can you guarantee that the critics won't be
caught on libel charges and have to spend their day in the
interrogation room?"

The general only smiled in response to the journalist's cheeky
question.

That particular question-and-answer session Dibyo had with
journalists, two days before the police's 49th anniversary on
July 1, well illustrated relations between the police and the
public.

The city police chief repeated the old rhetoric and the public
remains worried about possible consequences of criticizing the
powerful security institution.

One thing stands out as rather unusual in the celebration of
this year's police day; National Police Chief Banurusman, as well
as the Armed Forces chief, conceded that the professionalism and
services of the police are not yet as good as tax payers expect.

"We have to honestly admit that there are still a variety of
weaknesses and shortcomings in both development and operational
matters (of the police)," Feisal said when addressing the Police
Day.

As for the Jakarta metropolitan police, despite its failures
and weaknesses, usually related to the severity of its budget, it
has won public applause for its intensive fight against crimes
and support for government-sponsored campaigns.

It appears that Feisal's criticism also applies to the
metropolitan police.

Several weeks after being inaugurated, in late January, Dibyo,
for instance, found that many city police personnel were "lacking
discipline".

On once occasion he was so upset at a senior officer coming
late to a ceremony at city police headquarters, that he asked the
officer not to join the ceremony. He was also outraged on
learning that most of the police precincts under his supervision,
in and around the city, do not conduct the routine ceremonies in
the morning and afternoons, as required.

The government is continually improving its police personnel's
well-being, by increasing their meal allowances and salaries, in
a bid to boost their performances.

And yet, Jakarta's soaring cost of living has tempted some
officers to look for extra income illegally. Asking for money
from motorists who violate traffic rules is a classic example. A
number of police officers still act as middlemen in the driving
license processing section at city police headquarters, despite
routine crackdowns.

It is a long-standing complaint that people who come to the
police to report a case have to pay a certain amount of money if
they want it to be investigated.

Public services, in general, are still unsatisfactory, largely
due to the slow work of officers.

The Jakarta-based Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, one of well-
known critics of the government, pointed out that throughout
1994, for instance, police in Jakarta still used excessive
violence in dealing with suspected criminals.

Police, the institute stated in a press release, have often
shot dead criminal suspects for dubious reasons, such as the
criminal was "trying to escape".