Police anesthesia

Police anesthesia

We have yet to see any sign in the Bank Bali affair that law
enforcement authorities and officials have changed their
insensitive attitude, and that they can see this scandal as a
shameful crime. Police and prosecutors appear to be merely acting
according to prescribed protocol.

This apparent absence of any detective instinct on the part of
our police officers and prosecutors gives us cause to be
pessimistic that the one-week deadline set by President Habibie
to solve the Bank Bali scandal can be met. If it can take years
to try to solve small cases, how long will it take to solve a
mega-scandal such as this?

By setting such an optimistic deadline, Habibie seems to be
convinced that he can expose the scam and punish the
perpetrators. However, given the anesthetic state of our police
and prosecutor corps, we would like to ask who will execute
Habibie's order?

We are afraid the Bank Bali scandal will be solved in the same
way other corruption cases have been solved: not through court
procedures, but by issuing statements and commands by those who
hold power in their hands. It is thus becoming increasingly clear
that this is an era in which the law is being made totally
subservient to power.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta