Legal expert says police must be more professional
Legal expert says police must be more professional
JAKARTA (JP): A legal expert says that duties performed by
police will become tougher and more complicated in the future due
to the globalization process, stiffer competition among nations
and increasing public demand for better security and services.
"Police need to be more professional. But this professionalism
should also be shown by other forces in society, including
judges, prosecutors and attorneys," said Satjipto Rahardjo in a
seminar on policing here yesterday.
Satjipto, a lecturer of the Semarang-based Diponegoro
University in Central Java, told some 100 participants of the
two-day seminar held by the National Police Academy that
professionalism would help free police from becoming involved in
any political games, should the Armed Forces be involved in
politics .
"They will be more independent and able to set up high
standards in recruiting new members and in serving the public,"
he said.
The seminar was meant as a brainstorming session for the
police to help them prepare inputs for drawing up of the Broad
Guidelines of State Policies. The 1998 general session of the
People's Consultative Assembly will discuss and ratify the
guidelines.
Satjipto explained that the police force should gradually free
itself from other agencies' political influences, start
appointing quality leaders and improve management.
He said police have a special role in law enforcement, because
they are the first party to deal with the public. Judges,
prosecutors and lawyers are all "desk officials", whereas police
are "street officers".
Awaloedin Djamin, former chief of the National Police,
observed a number of flaws in the role of the police in law
enforcement during the past 25 years.
"Many people feel that they lack legal protection, don't
receive equal treatment in some legal measures, and complain of
sluggish legal proceedings," Awaloedin said.
"What we need to do to better our law enforcement record is to
increase the number of police officers, improve their quality and
their wages," he suggested.
The seminar also included AMW Pranarka, a political observer
from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, and
legal expert Erman Raja Gukguk of the University of Indonesia.
Both focused their presentations on the so-called "legal
tradition" in the country.
The term was coined from some passages in the 1945
Constitution, which state that the quality of law enforcement
depends on the "spirit" of government officials.
"If there were flaws in the Constitution, we could still have
good law enforcement, because we have good officials," Satjipto
said.
Erman, however, said that there is no such thing as a "legal
tradition" in society. "Not everybody is enthusiastic in
enforcing the laws. Otherwise, we wouldn't have rampant collusion
and corruption and other violations of law," he said.
Pranarka agreed, saying Indonesia has yet to develop the
"legal tradition" in its society. "It's a long process, though,
for us to have a community that respects the law," he said.(16)