Police plan of new rank terms hailed
Police plan of new rank terms hailed
JAKARTA (JP): An executive of the newly founded Indonesian
Police Watch said on Sunday that he welcomed the police
initiative to introduce new ranking terminology but said that
it's not an urgent issue.
"For me, as a member of the public, what's more important is
the performance of the police force," Adnan Pandupraja told The
Jakarta Post.
Changing the names of police ranks should be followed with a
significant changing in the quality of the police service, said
Adnan of the Indonesian Police Watch from the School of Law at
the University of Indonesia.
As reported earlier, the new ranking terms -- already used by
many countries and dubbed as the international standard -- would
be effective as of July 1 when the force commemorated its 54th
anniversary.
Under the new terminology, four-star generals will be known as
commissioners, lieutenant generals as deputy commissioners, major
generals as assistant commissioners, and brigadier generals as
commandants.
The term colonel will be replaced with senior intendant,
lieutenant colonel with super intendant, major with assistant
super intendant, captain with senior inspector, first lieutenant
with first inspector and second lieutenant will change to second
inspector.
According to Adnan, the use of new terminology is in
accordance with the police's separation from the military.
"The adoption of the new system is one of the police's efforts
to erase its association with TNI (the Indonesian Military),"
Adnan said.
The police force has been separated from the armed forces
(ABRI), or the Indonesian National Soldiers (TNI) as it has been
renamed, since April 1, 1999. But the police force is still under
the command of the Minister of Defense and Security.
The separation was meant to establish the police's
independence from the military in the sense of putting it in its
proper place as guardian of public order and security and as a
law-enforcement agency.
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dadang Garnida shared
Adnan's opinion but said that the new terminology would also
eliminate difficulties faced by the Indonesian police in
communicating with their counterparts from foreign countries.
"As an example, when a police officer is sent abroad to study,
it's funny if we have to give a translation of every rank in our
terminology to make them understand," Dadang said.
Dadang said that the change would initially confuse the public
but he said that his office would help to make people familiar
with the new system. (08)