Police 'must be separated from ABRI'
Police 'must be separated from ABRI'
JAKARTA (JP): The National Commission on Human Rights
recommended yesterday that the police be separated from the Armed
Forces so it could be independent and be in a better position to
serve and protect the public.
The rights body told the House of Representatives' Commission
I for defense and security, foreign affairs, information and
legal affairs, that the police should no longer be the "political
tool" of the government and the Armed Forces (ABRI).
"People everywhere demand that their police be really
professional in serving and protecting the public, instead of
being a mere security tool of the power holder," said commission
member Satjipto Rahardjo.
Satjipto was accompanied by his colleagues Marzuki Darusman,
Baharuddin Lopa, Clementino dos Reis Amaral, Koesparmono Irsan,
Albert Hasibuan and B.N. Marbun.
Satjipto, who is a law professor at Diponegoro University in
Semarang, Central Java, said the police must now end their
militaryesque way of handling problems.
He said out the police should follow a doctrine that is
entirely different from that of the military.
"The military's doctrine is to crush enemies while the
police's should be to protect and serve the public," Satjipto
said. "The police will never become professional unless it
follows its own doctrine."
Satjipto criticized the police academy for not conducting a
"genuine police education," saying it stresses military doctrines
more than a police doctrine.
Satjipto therefore said the police should be given rights to
design their own education programs.
He recounted how he was once told by a police cadet that the
latter was only taught to slap people's faces during the first
year in the academy.
The police should now be freed from all interference from the
government and the Armed Forces, he said, and called on both
parties to stop "meddling" in police affairs.
Koesparmono said the police should develop three basic
principles: fighting crime, keeping people out of jail and loving
humanity.
"Good police must be able to keep people out of jail, not put
as many people as they can into jail," Koesparmono, a retired
two-star police general, said.
Under the current system, the police are incorporated into
ABRI along with the Army, Navy and Air Force.
The police have found themselves on the receiving end of
increasingly strong criticism, particularly over their way of
handling unrest and rioting.
Given their position as the first layer of security, police
have often been involved in clashes with civilian demonstrators
over many issues over the past three years.
Eighteen members of the Jakarta Police force are currently
facing a court martial for their alleged involvement in the fatal
shootings of four Trisakti University's students on May 12 which
led to widespread riots in Jakarta. Almost 1,200 people were
killed in the unrest that also caused Rp 2.5 trillion (US$216
million) in material losses.
The National Commission on Human Rights, however, said the
police were not using live ammunition during the incident.
Lawyers representing the police also believe that the police
have been made a scapegoat by other parties.
The commission also told the hearing presided over by Aisyah
Aminy that a rally bill being prepared by the House should be
drafted in the spirit of freedom of expression.
"There must be one clause which stipulates that the police's
role in a rally is only to facilitate the protesters," Marzuki
said.
Marzuki also called on the House and the government to keep in
their minds that now, in the reform era, laws must be established
in order to limit the power of the government.
In the past, he said, "laws were drafted only to perpetuate
the power of the government." (byg)