House reviews plan to enact new police law
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Bowing to mounting public pressure, the House of Representatives (DPR) agreed on Tuesday to reconsider its plan to pass the controversial police bill into law on Wednesday.
House leaders are scheduled to hold a consultation meeting with the chairmen of party factions on Wednesday morning to decide whether or not they will postpone the endorsement of the bill on the Indonesian police, which has drawn strong criticism from the public.
Responding to a proposal from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), House leaders also agreed on Tuesday evening to move the planned plenary session scheduled to enact the bill into law from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., after the consultation meeting.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction secretary in the House, Heri Akhmadi, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that several factions seemed to understand the necessity of postponing the bill's endorsement as had been demanded by the PDI-P.
"We all know that sometimes a good law will not automatically be good for the public if we fail to socialize the draft before endorsing it," Heri said.
Controversy over the police bill arose as the PDI Perjuangan faction voiced their objections to a provision of the bill allowing for an extension of the retirement age for the police chief, which many observers considered to be a move designed to allow police chief General Surojo Bimantoro to stay in command.
Heri said the PDI-P had sent a formal letter to House leaders on Tuesday, asking them to postpone the endorsement of the controversial bill.
In the letter signed by faction chairman Arifin Panigoro and secretary Heri Akhmadi, the PDI Perjuangan identified three reasons why the placing of the bill on the statute books should be postponed.
Firstly, there were still objections from the public in connection with the bill. Secondly, more time was needed to socialize the bill to the public before it was approved by the House. And thirdly, the House needed time to comprehensively identify the public's wishes.
Earlier, several members of the PDI-P faction had threatened to walk out of the plenary session should the House insist on passing the bill.
Aisyah Amini from the United Development Party (PPP) criticized on Tuesday the move by the PDI-P, saying that the party had the most representatives on the House special committee discussing the bill.
"How can they make such a demand now when they were actively involved in discussing the bill. As the biggest party, they have the largest number of representatives on the special committee," Aisyah told the press at the legislative building on Tuesday.
National Police chief General Surojo Bimantoro denied on Tuesday that the extension of the retirement age from 48 to 55, and then to 58 as provided for in the bill, was designed to keep him in his post.
"What we want from this extension of the retirement age is that gradually it will help us reach the ideal ratio between the number of police officers and the people we serve," Bimantoro told reporters.
Nationwide there were some 270,000 police personnel and annually some 6,000 personnel retired, while the number of new recruits amounted to less than half the number of retiring police officers.
"Prosecutors and judges retire at the age of 60. They are all law enforcers like us," he said after opening a seminar on police education and training in Jakarta.
"So it's not true that the bill is designed to accommodate me. Who am I?," he asked.
Bimantoro is scheduled to retire in early November and he reportedly submitted his resignation letter to the state secretary on Sept. 17.