Corruption rampant in police, says ADB
Corruption rampant in police, says ADB
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a corner of a kiosk in suburban Jakarta, a young man brags
about how he managed to escape being imprisoned after paying Rp 1
million (US$107) to a police officer who had arrested him for
possession of a small amount of marijuana.
In contrast, Siti (not her real name) put on a sad face
because she could not come up with the Rp 10 million (US$1,075)
demanded by police officers who caught her husband selling two
ecstasy pills at a discotheque in West Jakarta.
The practice of bribing police officers is acceptable to some
people to avoid facing tiresome legal procedures to obtain
justice.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) mentions such practices in
its report titled Country Governance Assessment Report-Indonesia,
saying it was one hurdle for the National Police to overcome.
The report says the public ranks the police as the poorest
performing major public institution serving the community because
the institution has not effectively dealt with the endemic
corruption within its own departments.
"Corruption is in fact institutionalized. Examples of
corruption and malpractice cited by the police -- dereliction of
duty, misuse of operational funds, extortion, bribery in criminal
cases, bribery and nepotism in appointments and promotions,
protection of gambling and prostitution, and debt collection --
are all common among units and police officers across the
country," the report says.
The ADB gave an example of how corruption in the force began
at the recruitment stage, citing how families may have to pay
between Rp 10 million to Rp 40 million to enroll their child in
the police school.
Adrianus Meliala, a police expert from the University of
Indonesia, said that a similar report about rampant corruption
within the police had been submitted by students at the Police
Academy about one and a half years ago.
"I can say that the National Police are aware of the
(widespread corrupt) practice. The police have admitted their
mistakes, which is far better than other institutions that
continue to deny such allegations. The police started introducing
reform measures in 1999 by formulating a clear appraisal system
based on capacity and performance," said Adrianus.
The ADB also believes that insufficient skillful personnel had
caused the police's performance in fighting corruption outside
the institution to appear stagnant.
The National Corruption Crime Directorate at police
headquarters has only 40 operative officers, while provincial
police have an average of 10 operative officers assigned to
handle corruption cases. Worse still, from only a handful of
trained accountants working for the National Police, none of them
work in corruption units, the report said.
In fact, the lack of personnel in the corruption crime unit
represents the imbalance between the number of police officers
and the number of population it serves. One Indonesian police
officer serves 1,068 citizens, which is far from the ideal number
constituted by the United Nations, which is 1:400.
According to the bank, it is even below the ratio in India,
the second most populated country in the world, which has a ratio
of 1:700. (006)