Police doing their best despite personnel pinch

JAKARTA (JP): Chronic problems besiege the 17,000-strong Jakarta Police Force but a lack of personnel, funds and facilities will not dampen spirits as it celebrates 48 years of service today.

An array of activities, including a parade, sports competitions and marching band displays, will be held at police headquarters on Jl. Sudirman, in the southeast corner of Semanggi cloverleaf in South Jakarta.

Data from the public information service, reveals that Metro Jaya Police Headquarters was officially established by the Indonesian government on Dec. 6, 1949 -- three weeks before the official end of Dutch colonial rule here.

Jaya is an abbreviation for Jakarta Raya (Greater Jakarta).

The headquarters was once located on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat, which is now part of Monas park in Central Jakarta.

In 1936, it was used by the Dutch as their headquarters for Batavia (the Dutch term for Jakarta) Police. The building was known as Hoofdbureau van Politie Batavia.

According to a book on the history of the city's police, to be launched today, all senior officers during colonial rule were Dutch and locals were never given a look in.

While the colonial police officers sat in their comfortable chairs monitoring and collecting tip-offs about possible underground movements for freedom by the locals, the low-rank Indonesian personnel were dispatched to direct the flow of bicycles on the busy streets, the book says.

The colonialists' unfair treatment did not continue during the Japanese occupation, it says. Instead, there were greater opportunities for Indonesians to obtain senior positions and establish more police offices.

During the Japanese rule, the city's police headquarters was called Tokubetsu Shi Keisatshu Sho.

But it is the Dutch influence, particularly the language, which remains to this day.

Examples include polisi (police), reserse (detectives) and polsek, or polisi sektor (subprecinct police), which were derived from the Dutch words politie, recherse and politie sectie.

After its 1949 official inauguration, the city police force was led by chief commissioner Ating Natadikusuma.

In line with the city's plan to develop Monas park into the lungs of the city, the late president Sukarno ordered the relocation of Jakarta Police Headquarters to Jl. Sudirman, where it has remained.

The only building at that time was a two-story office block, which has been renovated and is now used for police command, control and operations center.

Previous titles

City police have endured at least six official titles, altered for all manner of reasons including the changing status of the capital.

After the Dutch handover, the headquarters was called Kapekom Jaya (Greater Jakarta Police Commissioner's Office). In 1965, it was renamed Komdak VII Jaya (Seventh Police Regional Command of Greater Jakarta).

Sometimes names stick and this is why many people still prefer to call it Komdak.

Two years later, the authorities named it Komdak Metro Jaya in accordance with then governor Ali Sadikin's idea to call the capital a metropolitan city.

In 1970, it was known as Kodak Metro Jaya before it was renamed Daerah Kepolisian Metro Jaya (Greater Jakarta Region Metro Police) in 1979. This term lasted one year before being altered to its present title: Kepolisian Daerah Metro Jaya dan sekitarnya (Metro Police for the Greater Jakarta region and its surroundings).

Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata is the 19th Jakarta Police chief and he is responsible for the city, Tangerang, Depok and Bekasi.

Some of the headquarter's buildings are already more than 30 years old.

The only "high-rise" in the complex is the six-story central building where senior officials, including chief Hamami Nata, have their offices.

City police were expected to move into a new building on the same site by the end of 1999 but the two-year construction project should have started several months ago.

No official reasons have been forthcoming for the apparent delay in the project, which is part of the government's efforts to modernize the police force.

"About the plan? You'd better ask the National Police chief," Hamami said yesterday.

The new headquarters is to comprise a 10-story main building, twin 23-story towers, twin eight-story buildings, a three-story auditorium and an eight-story officer apartment block.

Jakarta's police are stationed in nine precincts, 94 subprecincts and 68 police stations in and around the capital.

"Despite the prolonged problems we're facing, we'll keep on doing our best for the public, the capital and personnel as well," Hamami said.

Of the 17,000 personnel, only 38 percent can be accommodated in the official housing facilities, he said.

A lack of personnel still causes problems, with the city force charged with the job of enforcing the law among 13 million residents.

"But what else can we do other than try to do our best," he said. (bsr/cst)