Police chief vows to retrain Brimob members as real police
Police chief vows to retrain Brimob members as real police
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Police officials pledged on Monday to end the paramilitary
function of the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in Aceh and retrain them
over the next three months for duty as proper law enforcers as
required by the Dec. 9 peace agreement signed by the government
and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said on Monday that
some 3,000 Brimob members, most of whom are not Achenese, had
begun their training in Aceh to learn basic police duties.
"They have to be fully informed of their new duties as law
enforcers and no longer as a paramilitary unit," Da'i said after
attending a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri.
The four-star general said that the training is slated to be
completed in the next three months as compared to the five months
as agreed upon earlier.
Such training, according to Da'i, was necessary as Brimob
members were trained to be combatants, not traditional law
enforcers.
"The National Police Headquarters must closely monitor Brimob
members adjusting to their new roles in the province," he said.
The government was specifically instructed to change the
function of Brimob in the cessation of hostilities agreement
signed by the government and GAM in December.
The special military-style police unit was seen as GAM's worst
enemy since the end of the military operation in 1999 as the unit
took over the harsh operations to attack Acehnese separatists.
Da'i also said that the Joint Security Committee (JSC), which
monitors the implementation of the peace accord, should be able
to distinguish between offensive strikes against GAM and law
enforcement.
"Should they (Brimob) have to hunt down a criminal, who later
turns out to be a GAM member, it is part of law enforcement
efforts. JSC should be able to distinguish that," Da'i said.
JSC announced on Saturday several serious violations to the
peace deal by both the Indonesian security forces and GAM since
the implementation of the peace deal. Such violations are
considered a threat to the peace deal.
Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto,
meanwhile, said on Monday that the JSC - a tripartite body
composed of 50 Acehnese leaders, 50 Indonesian officers and 50
foreign security experts -- should look more closely at whether
the violations blamed on policemen had actually violated the
peace deal or were part of normal law enforcement activities in
the province.
"When they hunt down a (suspected) criminal for breaking a
law, it cannot be considered a violation of the peace deal, but
part of law enforcement efforts," Endriartono claimed.
"The JSC should be wiser in judging such situations," the
general remarked.
He reiterated Jakarta's call for GAM to end their independence
campaign in a bid to prevent the failure of the peace deal.
"The basic idea of the peace deal was the acceptance of the
special autonomy law (as a starting point) in the province and
not independence. GAM should admit that if they want to maintain
the peace deal," Endriartono warned.