Police hit back, branding recent criticism as unfair

JAKARTA (JP): A senior police officer said yesterday criticism describing the force's image as at its lowest ebb was baseless and like a terror to the police.

National Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Nurfaizi said the criticism, voiced by experts after allegations of police brutality sparked last week's Tasikmalaya riot, generalized the issue.

"It seems that all 180,000 police across the country are bad officers. Such criticism contributes nothing significant toward a solution," he said referring to a report in Friday's The Jakarta Post.

Critics said the police's credibility had further deteriorated after the Tasikmalaya riot which killed at least three people and damaged and gutted several buildings.

The critics included Kristiadi of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Satjipto Rahardjo, a law professor and member of the National Commission on Human Rights and Former national police chief Gen. (ret.) Kunarto.

"Never before in the New Order period has the police's image been like it is now," Kristiadi said.

It has now got much worse than ever, Kunarto said.

Satjipto said "the National Police may proclaim to be a modern and professional force but the reality in the field is far from that."

Nurfaizi said police were not allergic to criticism if it was correct and constructive.

"We really appreciate the critics but why didn't they let us know before they revealed their opinions to the public," the one- star general said.

"They should have realized that their publicly-announced conclusion would affect the work of the good officers, whose number is much, much larger than the bad ones," he said.

Like many institutions there are also crooks in the police force, he said.

"If found guilty, we immediately kick them off the force. And we have done it," he said.

Over the past few years the police have made significant improvements to meet the public service's standards and have scientific criminal investigation, he said.

"So, how can people made such a generalization after only reading one or two disgraceful cases and concluded that our image was pretty poor," Nurfaizi said.

He suggested the critics conduct an in-depth study or investigation before making such a shallow conclusion.

"In the case of Tasikmalaya, for instance, they should have known the whole story, starting from the beginning," he said.

Nurfaizi said it was not the incident between the four police officers and the three santri (a traditional Islamic school student) that sparked the riot.

"It's rumor saying that one of the santri was killed by the police was what made the local people angry," he said.

He said senior local police had earlier offered an apology to Moslem boarding school staff for the incident and both sides had agreed to close the case.

He said the incident began when a police corporal punched a santri who the officer believed had improperly treated his son, a student at the boarding school.

"If the public and critics want us to be a superman, a hero that can do no wrong, please help us in a right and proper way. We want to be perfect, " he said.

Despite lingering problems the national police has vowed to meet public demands that it become more professional, he said.

"However, without active cooperation from the public, we can do nothing," Nurfaizi said. (bsr)