Flaw in Police authority
Flaw in Police authority
From Forum Keadilan
Since the separation of the National Police (POLRI) from the
Indonesian National Military (TNI), a popular saying came into
existence: "Police officers are in front and the military stands
behind them."
Ideally, when the police cannot handle security problems, then
the military should immediately come forward to help.
Unfortunately, in reality this does not happen. The POLRI seems
to have too much pride to request the assistance from its "big
brother", especially in regional conflicts. For example, in the
case of the most recent edition of the civil war in Poso, Central
Sulawesi, it would not have gotten so uncontrollable in the first
place, had POLRI called for assistance from the TNI earlier.
The regional police chief probably thought his men were
sufficiently capable of taking care of the problem. The governor
of the region, who should have had an important role in
suppressing the unrest, could not do much as regulations do not
provide him with the authority to handle security matters. The
military could only wait for an official request, because it has
been forbidden to get directly involved in security matters. As a
result, the central government was late in finding out the actual
situation of the intense conflict.
Based on this experience, I suggest that the National Police
be placed directly under the Home Affairs Minister, so that the
regional police chief would be under the control of the governor.
This way the person responsible for order and security would be
the governor, who would have the authority to ask for assistance
from the military, when the situation gets out of control.
The House of Representatives (DPR) should also give its utmost
attention to the decentralization of the national police. It is
high time that the regions be given the right to arrange the
duties and functions of their police. And most important, the
decentralization of the police would enhance the service by the
regional administrations consistent with the regional potential
and the relevant aspirations of their people.
ZULFAN
Jakarta