Our National Police to be integrated?

Our National Police to be integrated?

From Pikiran Rakyat

Many people find it strange to hear the Indonesian Police
Force mentioned as part of the Indonesian Armed Forces. To
Bambang Widjojanto of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute
Foundation (YLBHI) the bill on the Police Force strongly suggests
that the police will be totally integrated into the military
forces.

In future, he said, the police will have to solve various
problems under the control of the military. The question is
whether or not the police are military. It is obvious that
philosophically the police and the military are two different
entities. In the words of Luhut Pangaribuan, the Indonesian Armed
Forces cling to the doctrine of "crushing the enemy", while the
police should consider their opponents "human beings", not
enemies.

Regarding this, PBHI (Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights
Association) in one of its statements has said that the
fundamental difference between the police and the military cannot
be reconciled through slogans and ad-hoc guarantees in a law.

On the other hand, a good law should start by separating
different philosophies. It is worth knowing that point b of the
consideration section of the bill on the Police Force states:
" ....so it is deemed necessary to better consolidate the
position and role of the Indonesian Police Force as an element of
the Indonesian Armed Forces."

A similar phenomenon can be found in the bill on manpower. The
frame of reference of a one-day seminar on "Revision of the bill
on manpower" held by YLBHI and Elsam (Institute for Policy
Research and Advocacy) states that the bill seeks to integrate
manpower policies with rulings on industrial relations. The
statement, which touches two different areas, may blur the
principle meaning prevailing in each. Manpower policies regulate
the growth of the labor force, human resources development and
the labor market, while policies on industrial relations lay
stress on efforts to provide and guarantee protection in working
relations involving workers, employers and the government.

In addition, as pointed out by the central governing board of
the All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) the consideration section
of the bill on manpower suggests that workers constitute nothing
more than a capital aspect in development and are considered mere
commodities in production. The bill on manpower fails to
accommodate in real terms human values and the dignity of workers
as well as the targets of national development, namely total
development of human beings.

I am afraid that basic issues such as those found in the bill
on the Police Force and the one on manpower have been ignored as
a result of the tendency to have a discussion of the bill only
partially (concentrated only on an article by article discussion)
without first clarifying the basic concept or philosophy
expressed in the consideration section and later on set forth in
the body of the bill or in its articles.

I have opted to make public this worry because as far as I
know there has not been a comprehensive and open discussion among
the parties concerned on the basic concept or philosophy
underlying the promulgation of laws, not even in the mass media.

ANDREAS ISWINARTO

Jakarta