Law for civilians not the same as for police, TNI

Novan Iman Santosa and Yogita Tahilramani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

This nation seems to have a huge stock of shocking legal violations. One ongoing case involves no less a figure than Comr. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb, a former Jakarta Police chief.

Jacoeb is now under investigation for issuing temporary vehicle documents for 11 Mercedes Benz vehicles allegedly smuggled into Indonesia from Singapore.

Jacoeb, now an inspector at the National Resilience Institute, is alleged to have committed the crime during his term as chief of the South Sulawesi Police and after he became head of the Jakarta Police last year.

But whether justice will be served in this case is the question that concerns the public, and rightly so judging from earlier treatment accorded members of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police under the law.

A drug case involving the son of a former top Army officer serves as an example.

Second Lt. Agus Isrok of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) was arrested for the possession of drugs on Aug. 8, 1999. A Jakarta Military Tribunal sentenced him on June 22, 2000, to four years in prison, as well as discharging him from the service.

Months later, the Jakarta Military High Court reduced the sentence to two years and reinstated Agus as an Army officer.

Agus' codefendant, Donny Hendrian, was sentenced to a nine- year jail term and was ordered to pay a fine of Rp 200 million by the West Jakarta District Court in April 2000.

Justice for military and police officers is one thing, and the discrepancies between the punishments for soldiers and civilians is another. Unlike Agus, an Army officer and the eldest son of former Army chief Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo, Donny is a civilian.

Criminologist Adrianus Meliala said criminal cases involving military and police personnel were investigated by the Military Police, and then handed over to military prosecutors to try before a military tribunal.

But they use the same Criminal Code for civilians, he said.

The discrepancies arise, according to Adrianus, because although the same Criminal Code is used for both civilians and the military, military tribunals tend to hand down much lighter sentences than civilian courts.

"Military tribunals cut military defendants some slack for serving the country as military officers," Adrianus told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

And in the military, he added, a criminal case does not necessarily have to be handed over to the Military Police, should the commanding officer decide, for example, that it could badly tarnish the image of the military. So cases can be closed after the soldier in question has received "internal punishment", such as physical punishment.

Referring to Jacoeb's case, Adrianus said that even though police personnel were subject to the Criminal Code, it ultimately depended on their superiors as to how their cases would be dealt with.

"A police chief could decide that a criminal case, once dealt with by internal affairs or even by police detectives, is finished and done with," he said.

"The officer in trouble may get reprimanded, suspended or even dishonorably discharged, but if a police chief decides that the case does not have any criminal content, it will never be forwarded to state prosecutors, as it would according to the new 2002 law on the police."

What is ludicrous here, he said, is that police investigations of criminal cases involving police officers or officials are not overseen by an independent legal body or the Attorney General's Office.

"Sometimes, police officers are grilled by detectives, who are their colleagues or friends," Adrianus said.

Criminologist Harkristuti Harkrisnowo said the use of military tribunals should be limited. According to Law No. 31/1997, these tribunals should hear cases involving violations of regulations on military ethics and military discipline, such as desertion, insubordination or stealing and passing on confidential files to a foreign country.

"These tribunals should not include heavy cases like homicide, rape or drug trafficking. The use of the military tribunal should be limited. The heavier cases, legally speaking, should be tried in civilian courts," Harkristuti said.