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