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