DPR delays enactment of police bill

Abu Hanifah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives (DPR) agreed on Wednesday to delay the enactment of the controversial bill on the National Police in a bid to publicize it and get input from the public, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said.

Akbar told a media conference that the decision to delay the enactment of the bill had been approved by all factions at a plenary session.

"All the factions expressed their agreement to postpone the plan to pass the bill into law," he said.

Akbar said that the postponement was made in response to strong public criticism over the bill, which is considered to provide police with extraordinary power.

He explained that the House had assigned a special committee to be in charge of promoting the bill to the public.

"The postponement will not be too long as the bill is expected to be enacted before the Lebaran (the post-fasting holiday of Idul Fitri) celebration in December," Akbar said.

The Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction chairman, Arifin Panigoro, who accompanied Akbar to the meeting, said the special committee would have a very limited time to revise the bill. "They will have to finish the revision within 19 working days," Arifin said.

Meanwhile, Adnan Pandupraja of the Indonesian Police Watch said that its familiarization should effectively be used by the committee to revise the bill in a transparent way.

Adnan said that the revision should include the restructuring of the police's duties as the bill was simply adopting the definition written in Decree No. VII/2000 of the People's Consultative Assembly.

"Maintaining security and order is given priority as the police's primary duty in the decree. It should be changed to protecting the public," Adnan said, adding that some of the articles were vague and could be prone to misuse.

The National Police bill is scheduled to be passed into law at the House's plenary session on Wednesday.

Non-governmental organizations and lawyers have warned that many loopholes exist in the bill and give the advantage to the police, including the articles on the police's retirement age and its position in the governmental system, which could be easily exploited to take over the sociopolitical function abandoned by the Indonesian Military in the government.