Educate the Police!

What's the purpose of the police in a civil society? Their purpose is to protect the people and to enforce the law, one would think. Thus, what were the police doing when they were shooting at 200 demonstrators on July 1, severely wounding five? Whom were they protecting and which law were they enforcing?

It seems that they were only protecting themselves against the threat of being soaked by bags of water thrown at them. It is not even a crime to douse somebody, and even if it were a crime, the police must react in a proportional manner. Even an insult does not justify an immediate, violent reaction. If you feel you are being insulted, go to court and have a legal action carried out against the alleged offender. You can't just shoot at him. Especially not if you are a policeman.

Taking violent revenge is in itself a crime much more severe than an insult. Who is protecting Indonesians against a policeman who is more criminal than the average Indonesian that he is supposed to protect?

It seems that during the aforementioned incident the police were not so much enforcing the law but taking it in their own hands. What is the difference?

The rule of law in a democracy implies that only independent and elected judges are authorized to determine what counts as an offense against the law and what is not. The role of the police is only to get a hold of the people that are suspected of being offenders against the law. The police are not authorize to judge someone on the spot, nor to humiliate them nor to mistreat them otherwise, as happened recently to supporters of the People's Democratic Party when they had to kneel in front of officers -- a humiliation.

As long as no juridical judgment has been pronounced, a suspect is counted as innocent before the law and has to be treated with the same respect as any other citizen. The suspect has to be treated with respect especially by the police who, at that moment, represent the rule of law vis a vis the citizen.

It seems that many policemen in this country have no idea of what their role and duty is in a democratic state. This lack of awareness calls for juridical action, of course, but much more, it calls for education. Policemen must be trained to react in moderate ways that are proportional to the threat they are facing to their own integrity and life. Violent self-defense should be the last resort in a line of possible reactions, such as negotiation with the demonstrators, passive resistance, dispersing demonstrators with nonviolent means, etc.

Police in many countries have had to learn to de-escalate rather than enhance violence in demonstrations. Lessons are to be learned from this and maybe even educational assistance can be found in such countries as Germany for example.

Violent reactions create a violent opposition and ultimately terrorism, as Germany experienced in the 1970s. If Indonesia wants to avoid such a phenomenon it has to educate its police to act as a democratic force for the people and not as a force against the people.

MICHAEL DUSCHE

Jakarta