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)