Police frustration

Police frustration

With political and social change on the march, the police
lately have appeared to be the most vigorous law enforcement
agency in the country. On Monday the chief of the Jakarta Police
surprisingly declared the fugitive son of former president
Soeharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the main suspect in the
recent murder of a Supreme Court justice who sentenced him to
prison for corruption.

According to metropolitan police chief Insp.Gen. Sofjan Yacob,
the authorities had every reason to draw this conclusion because
mounting evidence indicates that the young tycoon was the
mastermind of the murder. Tommy has been in hiding since November
after he refused to surrender to the authorities to serve an 18-
month jail sentence.

Naturally, many people are surprised and relieved by the
police announcement. First, because this was the first case in
the country of such a cold-blooded murder, where the victim was a
Supreme Court justice. Law experts believe that the real aim of
the murder was to foil the Supreme Court's effort to establish
the supremacy of law, which many claim Soeharto had tried to
sabotage. Second, the police have appeared reluctant to
thoroughly investigate the brutal campaigns of bombing and murder
that have rocked the nation since last year.

However, on the other hand, many people are surprised by how
the police officials so easily drew such a sudden and summary
conclusion on the Supreme Court justice's murder. And the
police's call for Tommy to surrender within three days sounds
like a farcical attempt to mask their failure to discover where
Tommy has been hiding for the last nine months.

In the course of that long nine months, the police officials
ironically added to the circulating rumors here that the rich
young tycoon was hiding somewhere that was well-protected by
soldiers who used to serve his authoritarian father. However,
people believe that due to a shortage of police personnel the
well-known fugitive was free to go anywhere -- visiting his
family -- especially under the blanket of the night.

Anyway, whichever perception is true needs to be confirmed.
However, the police's failure to track down Soeharto's youngest
son -- much less nab him and throw him behind bars -- is in
itself a shameful tragedy. The shame will certainly be made worse
if after three days as demanded by police, Tommy still remains at
large. Nothing will tarnish the police's image more than this.

In the eyes of the public, the police's seemingly reluctance
to do a serious job has been quite difficult to comprehend. They
might have lost enthusiasm under the rule of president
Abdurrahman Wahid, who ruled by impulsiveness and tried to put
the police force under his thumb. The way the president attempted
to dismiss the National Police chief and ordered his arrest seems
to have killed the spirit of many of the force's officers.

Now with Abdurrahman gone and a more understanding head of
state in the national saddle, the police are seemingly in great
spirits to show their success stories or anything that looks like
one.