'Police not ready to use voting rights'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an apparent bid to lend some solidarity to their counterparts in the military (TNI), the National Police said on Sunday they would exercise their voting rights only if all quarters, both police personnel and all other components of the nation, were ready to accept their active participation in general elections.

"If all are ready, both police personnel and all components of the nation, there is no problem for police to use their voting rights," said National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar.

He said the police had not exercised their voting rights for so long and thus may need time and special preparations to make use of their rights.

However he stressed that the police were ready to use their voting rights if the situation requires them to do so.

"If we are forced to exercise our voting rights in the near future, we are ready," Da'i was quoted by Antara as saying.

The debate over whether members of the military and the police should be allowed to exercise their voting rights resurfaced early this month after the government submitted for deliberation the general election bill.

The bill grants voting rights to members of the police and military by 2004. In return, the two forces would have to vacate their seats in the MPR.

The military's top brass has openly objected to the bill, reasoning that neither soldiers nor the public were prepared to see the enfranchisement of the military.

Meanwhile, police observers poured cold water on the National Police's appeal to swap its seats in the legislature for the right to vote, saying the police should have neither right in order to better ensure their neutrality.

Adnan Pandupraja of Indonesian Police Watch said that although he appreciated the police's desire to leave politics behind, more time was needed before police officers could be entrusted with the franchise .

"We must not forget that the decree depriving the police force of its political rights was a punishment for its past misdeeds under the New Order regime," Adnan said over the weekend.

He was referring to People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Decree No. 7/2000, which bans members of both the Indonesian Military and the police from voting until 2009.

Article 28 of Law No 2/2002 on the National Police also bans members of the police force from exercising their voting rights. It requires the police to remain neutral and not engage in political activities.

Adnan said the police force's neutrality would be at stake if officers were granted the franchise while the force had yet to become professional.

"We've signed a social contract (with the MPR decree) so let's honor that first," he said, adding that the decree should also have required the police to surrender their seats in the legislature and the MPR. For now, the police and the TNI can retain their seats until 2009 at the latest.

As a legacy of the three decades of Soeharto's New Order regime, the TNI and the police enjoyed 75 non-elected seats in the legislature and the MPR between 1971 and 1987, 100 from 1987 to 1992, 75 in 1997 and 38 in 1999. The military has refused to allow servicemen to exercise their voting rights in elections to the two law-making bodies.

Adnan, however, said that the worries over the police force rested more on its as yet unclear role under the regional autonomy arrangement.

Because of its loosely defined relationship with regional governments and the central government, the police force could easily get caught between conflicting interests in the regions, especially if politics came into play, he explained.

Another concern, he said, was the question of general election security, which was the police's responsibility. "So, what happens if we have a partisan police force?"

Adnan said that unless the police could change itself into a professional state institution, it should continue to be denied the franchise.

He said a time frame of seven years up to 2009 should be sufficient, but added that the government should not hesitate to withhold the franchise for a further period if necessary.

Police observer Satjipto Rahardjo took a harder stance, denying the police both the franchise and designated seats even if they become professional.

He said that while the government might consider it the right of every citizen to vote, this right should be forfeit once a person joined the police or military.

Satjipto said, however, that police officers who resigned from the force automatically became civilians again and should have their right to vote restored.