Input from the public vital for revision of Police bill

Abu Hanifah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The public must become more active in providing feedback on the controversial National Police bill, Hendardi, a human rights campaigner from the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), said.

"There must be mutual communication between the legislators and the public. The public also has to press legislators to revise the disputed articles in the bill," Hendardi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The House of Representatives (DPR) agreed on Wednesday to delay enactment of the bill, which has drawn a hostile response from the public and would provide police with extraordinary powers, according to some.

The postponement was announced in a bid to publicize the bill and to obtain input from the public.

The House has assigned a special committee to take charge of promoting the bill among the public. Revisions to the bill must be completed within 19 working days.

"The public can press the legislators not to enact the bill before their inputs are accommodated in the revision," Hendardi said.

Adrianus Meliala, a criminologist at the University of Indonesia, said that the police themselves should also be more active in publicizing the bill so as to encourage more input from the public.

Adrianus said on Thursday that it was the police themselves who were the most competent in promoting the bill in a way that would achieve effective results.

"The police have to promote the bill and seek inputs from the public by meeting them in person," Adrianus told The Jakarta Post.

The police had to acquaint themselves with the articles to be discussed with the public, before conducting their familiarization activities, he said, adding that they should also be selective when considering the inputs.

Commenting on the police's position, which was formulated under the coordination of the President, Adrianus said there were good articles in the bill which needed to be retained.

Bambang Widjojanto, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), welcomed the postponement, but said he did not agree with the use of the word "familiarization" as it negated efforts to revise the bill.

"The use of the word familiarization implies the public already understands it, thereby nullifying the demand for the revision itself," Bambang said.

"I have the impression that the familiarization process merely constitutes a political gimmick to show that the public finally understands and agrees before it is finally enacted," he said.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung said that the bill's enactment had been postponed until the next assembly session, scheduled to take place before the Lebaran festivities in December.

Bambang suspects the familiarization program is the House's way of demonstrating that they have "heard and listened" to the public before enacting the disputed bill into law.

Bambang said the provisions in the bill that needed revision included, among others, those relating to police duties, the pensionable age for police officers and organizational structure, in keeping with the implementation of regional autonomy.