Donation to police 'should be made accountable'

Donation to police 'should be made accountable'

Evi Mariani, Jakarta

Newly installed Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani says he has many pressing tasks to perform during his tenure, two of which are improving the infrastructure available to the force while at the same time increasing efficiency in the use of the funds allocated to the police out of the state budget.

But how will he be able to procure "new premises and state-of- the-art technology" while trying to make savings out of an already tight budget?

"We will find other sources of funds. Who knows, there may be some people out there who want to contribute to the development of the police," Firman said, apparently only half in jest, after his inauguration last week.

The changes came fast. Two days later, Firman had the lobby of his office renovated, while a few small buildings in the police compound on Jl. Sudirman, which were previously used to house food stalls, had been demolished to make way for new buildings.

The following day, the mobile detective division announced they had taken delivery of 85 new motorcycles.

Chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang said that they were expecting to receive a total of 300 new motorcycles by the end of August.

So, where did the police get the money for all of this?

"The money for the renovation of the chief's lobby was taken from his own special allocation out of the state budget," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Prasetyo said on Saturday. "Some of the motorcycles were bought for us by National Police Headquarters, while the remainder are being paid for by donors."

Prasetyo did not say who these donors might be.

The state has allocated Rp 3.02 trillion this fiscal year to cover the cost of policing, which includes the operating costs of the force nationwide -- particularly high this year due to the fear of terrorist attacks during the current election season.

It is public knowledge that the police budget is grossly inadequate and that to keep operating the police accept, or even solicit, donations from the public, especially the business community. In 2002, President Megawati Soekarnoputri's husband Taufik Kiemas donated 20 patrol cars to the Jakarta Police and two new BMW cars for presidential security detail. Other businesspeople have also donated patrol cars to the police, but the force appears loath to reveal who they are.

"The law does not require us to reveal to the public who our donors are. We also do not have any obligation to account for these donations," Prasetyo asserted, referring to Law No. 20/2002 on the National Police.

However, Bambang Widodo Umar, a lecturer in the Police Studies Department at the University of Indonesia, said the police should be required to submit accounts in respect of donations received to the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) or the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP).

"Making the police accountable for financial management is important in order to minimize embezzlement and for ensuring that the force becomes independent and impartial," he said.

Bambang added that if businesspeople wanted to make donations to the police, they should register these with the Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance so that public could monitor the manner in which the donations were utilized.

"Ideally speaking, the state should cover all the costs of policing so that the force works in the interests of the public, not vested interests," Bambang added. "I know that it will not be easy to achieve such an ideal situation, but, for the time being, the police should at the very least account for the donations they receive," he stressed.