Drunken officer to face dismissal
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Getting rotten drunk in uniform and then allegedly trying to steal a taxi will cost Central Jakarta Public Order Agency head Frans H. Silalahi his job, Governor Sutiyoso says.
"I will not tolerate civil servants behaving like this. I am going to fire him," Sutiyoso said on Monday.
He said Silalahi's offensive behavior had tarnished the image of the administration.
Still in his uniform, a drunk Frans was apprehended by police after allegedly trying to steal a taxi parked in front of a bar in Mangga Besar, West Jakarta, in the wee hours of Friday morning.
Frans remains in custody at the Taman Sari Police headquarters.
City Public Order Agency head Soebagio said Frans would be subject to administrative sanctions, which would include dismissal.
Civil servants are strictly prohibited from taking booze and drugs while on duty.
Speaking to a group of public order officers, Soebagio told them to act professionally and said the nature of their jobs, policing bars and night clubs, meant they had to be strong in the face of temptation.
"Should they (the officers) have no strong faith, they could fall into bad habits (like drinking alcohol or taking drugs)," he said.
Witnesses said the incident began when Frans along with three other senior officers with the agency decided to go to a karaoke bar after a late meeting on Thursday evening.
An extremely drunk Frans later got in a taxi and asked the driver to take him around the city. When the taxi meter showed Rp 100,000, he asked the driver to drop him back at the bar. Refusing to pay the first taxi, Frans then got into a second, unlocked taxi and drove it away.
Some ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers managed to stop Frans' car after a chase. Frans was then badly beaten up by angry taxi drivers and passersby before being taken to the police.
City Audit Agency head Firman Hutajulu said that the three officers accompanying Frans during the incident would also be punished.
Meanwhile, chairman of the City Council's Commission A overseeing legal and administrative affairs, Achmad Suaedy, said he was saddened by the incident.
"We call on the Governor to dismiss Frans ... It should also be necessary that the administration require all public order officers to have psychological tests to ensure that they are mentally sound."
Frans is the second public order officer to be implicated in a crime this year after the head of the agency's special unit operation, Chrisman Siregar shot dead John Albert, a gang member associate of well-known boss Hercules, at point-blank range in February.
In his trial, which is ongoing, prosecutors late last month asked the court to sentence Chrisman to five years' jail.