'Police continue to carry out their daily tasks poorly'

'Police continue to carry out their daily tasks poorly'

Tiarma Siboro and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

The National Police, officially dubbed the defenders of the
country's justice system, have a long way to go in satisfactorily
performing their duties of providing public security and
combating rampant corruption, collusion, and nepotism, observers
said on Sunday.

Adnan Pandupradja, secretary-general of Indonesian Police
Watch, and Achmad Ali of the Makassar-based Hasanuddin
University, said the police force, which will celebrate its 56th
anniversary today, should improve its performance by first
combating corruption within its ranks.

But Adnan said that to be fair, the police's poor performance
was the result of various factors, including the classic one --
that its personnel were underpaid, even to the extent of
receiving less that the minimum regional wage (UMR) set by the
government for workers.

"Following the government's policy of promoting regional
autonomy, a number of rich provinces, like Batam, are to
subsidize their local police forces. But many people argue that
this will even worsen the situation as the police will lose their
neutrality. So, it's still not a solution," Adnan told The
Jakarta Post.

After the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) decided to
separate the TNI from the police through its decree No. 7/2000,
which came into effect last year, many expected that the police
would become more independent and would promote a compassionate
approach in dealing with the public.

But in several high profile cases, the police have once again
found their image tarnished by the errant behavior of some
officers.

During a recent hearing in the trial of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala
Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, for his
alleged involvement in the murder of Justice Sjafiuddin
Kartasasmita, people were surprised to hear Tommy candidly
telling the court that he had "coordinated" with the security
apparatus during his time on the run.

Tommy shook the country's legal system when he fled the
capital in November 2000, instead of serving the 18-month jail
term imposed on him by the Supreme Court.

The police force has also faced problems in investigating
Insp. Gen. Sofjan Jacoeb, the former Jakarta Police chief, over
his alleged involvement in the smuggling of dozens of luxury cars
into the country.

Following its separation from the TNI, many expected that the
police would start to promote a persuasive approach in dealing
with protests.

But the recent clashes between police personnel and workers of
the Sidoarjo-based white goods producer PT Maspion clearly
indicates that the police have failed to change their
"militaristic culture". During the clash, photographer Wisnu
Dewabrata of the Kompas daily was beaten up by at least 10
policemen while he was covering the two-day strike.

Others say the police as an institution should not be
reluctant to prosecute corrupt officers.

"Many believe that some police personnel are involved in
corruption in many ways. As long as the police force fails to
combat corrupt officers, I don't see that the police can perform
their duties well," Achmad Ali said as quoted by Antara.

In an effort to improve their performance, the police plan to
restructure their precinct and subprecinct offices.

National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said recently that
the plan was aimed at providing better service as well as making
the work of the offices more efficient despite the limited number
of personnel available.

Currently, each of the offices only has three units which
directly connect with the public. These are the detective and
intelligence unit, the alert unit and the public service unit.

Da'i said that in the future the units would be replaced with
more specific units handling crimes against property, crimes
against the person and drug crimes.

Police headquarters is currently awaiting presidential
approval for the restructuring plan.