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.