Guardians of the people

The spate of violent clashes involving demonstrators and the police over the past several days once again raises the issue of excessive force employed by police officers facing what might generally be described as "peaceful protests" -- or, at least, protests by groups of people armed with nothing more than rocks, sticks and their bare hands.

In the East Java city of Pasuruan a few weeks ago, one man was killed by a police bullet while protesting against moves to impeach President Abdurrahman Wahid. Several others were wounded.

Although the incident did not seem to be nearly as violent as what has become known as the two Semanggi incidents or the Trisakti University shooting in Jakarta, it attracted considerable attention from the public because of the President's prompt demand that the guilty officers in question be brought to trial. The National Police Headquarters in Jakarta, on the other hand, maintained that the officers, who were being cornered by thousands of unruly protesters, acted according to prescribed police procedures.

Closer to home, police in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung last week acted harshly against thousands of workers protesting two ministerial decrees they felt were unfair to workers. Similar labor protests erupted in the East Java city of Surabaya and elsewhere, and were similarly dealt with by police.

Most recently, police once again resorted to harsh action against demonstrators protesting the fuel price hike. In the South Jakarta neighborhood of Ciputat, scores of people were wounded by rubber bullets fired by police to disperse a demonstration organized by students to protest the 30 percent fuel price hike.

In between these incidents, other examples of the police taking severe, some would say brutal, measures against protesters have occurred across the island of Java, in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and elsewhere.

The question all this raises is how far has our National Police progressed in transforming itself from the quasi-military institution it was during the three decades of president Soeharto's New Order regime? This is a relevant question to ask only a little more than a week before the first anniversary of the National Police's rebirth on June 1, 2000, as a law enforcement institution independent of the military.

Old habits, apparently, do die hard. Even police officers admit that the abuse of authority is still rampant, at least among lower ranking officers. Some police officers are still seen taking money from motorists who have violated traffic regulations as an "amicable solution", and police officers can still be found who will act as middlemen for people applying for driver's licenses.

In their defense, it can be said that our police officers are still grossly underpaid given the hard work they must perform and the heavy responsibilities they must shoulder. Also, the police's present policy of attempting to negotiate with protesters before resorting to physical action is certainly progress. And if the public expects our police officers to remain cool-headed in confronting protesters, it is certainly not unfair to expect that protesters, too, for their part remain peaceful and reasonably civil.

Overall, it is probably right to say that the National Police can be expected to progress in transforming itself in step with the progress the public makes in turning itself into a healthy civil society. We are sorry to say that for the present, not much progress is visible in this respect. Nevertheless, there is reason to remain optimistic, as long as Indonesians are aware that it is unrealistic to expect the police to improve themselves while others remain indifferent.