Murder of policemen

Murdering policemen seems to be increasing in frequency. In the past two years, according to our records, no fewer than 15 policemen have been killed in various parts of the country for various reasons. The talk of the town is now the slaying of the chief of the Pademangan police subdistrict, Maj. Noenang Kohar. He was stabbed to death by a bajaj passenger after a brief argument over orderly behavior in traffic.

On closer observation, it seems that the high incidence of crime in our community, particularly in the big cities, has its origin in the lack of discipline among members of the community. Discipline is just as low among the law enforcing officers. Policemen often make compromises in cases of crime. Prosecutors and judges can be manipulated by people involved in lawsuits. Of course, not all prosecutors and lawyers are guilty of such conduct. However, the efforts to improve the image of our law enforcers seems to lack consistency.

Because there is no consistency in the effort to uphold discipline, the war against crime is conducted with vigor only when a policeman is killed. After things have become quiet again, the climate of compromise re-emerges. Street hoodlums who were chased during operations reappear in the same places and display the same behavior again.

Nevertheless, people do not want to see their policemen killed. To prevent this from happening there is no other solution but to step up discipline in the police force itself.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta