Police politics

You would be forgiven for thinking the separation of the National Police from the Armed Forces (ABRI), which officially starts today, is an April Fool's joke. Nothing is really changing, except for the police's caps. Other physical attributes, including uniforms and rank insignias, will be changed only when and as the budget permits. Everything else about the police -- including their place in the governmental structure and their doctrine -- remains unchanged, at least for now.

Organizationally, the police are being separated from ABRI and put under the Ministry of Defense and Security. Since Gen. Wiranto is both ABRI commander and minister of defense and security, police leadership is still accountable to the same person.

The police will eventually adopt a new doctrine, one which hopefully will be less militaristic than the present one. However, even if a new doctrine were adopted today, we cannot expect a change in the officers' mentality overnight. This is particularly true among the senior officers who were educated and trained under the old doctrine and traditions.

The government nevertheless must be commended for taking the plunge, especially when the nation's security is in such precarious condition. It is certainly tempting to postpone the separation on the grounds of national security.

The present approach of gradual separation, however, is debatable. The separation of the police from the other three branches of ABRI is vital in building a more professional and credible police force. There is no reason to delay the process because it will simply mean it will be that much longer before the police become the professional force this country wants and needs.

The breakdown in law and order across the archipelago over the past year is all the more reason the separation must be accelerated, not slowed down. The violent clashes of the past year, including attacks on hundreds of police stations, showed the level of public distrust, even hatred, of the police.

The public has a very low opinion of the police's ability to protect their lives and serve their needs. Many people are taking up arms to defend themselves against criminals. Others are taking the law into their own hands to settle conflicts. Some people are turning to their community, rather than the police, for help. This was how ethnic clashes erupted in Ambon, Maluku, and Sambas, West Kalimantan.

It would be unfair to lay the blame on the National Police for everything which has gone wrong in this country. The police were simply part of the repressive and tyrannical regime of former president Soeharto. The police, like the other branches of ABRI, were simply tools used by Soeharto to repress the populace. Human rights abuses were a main characteristic of Soeharto's reign, and the police, like the other members of ABRI, must take some of the blame for these abuses.

The main reason given for the incorporation of the police into ABRI -- an argument some people still use today -- was that the police were understaffed and could not handle the job of policing the country by themselves. Security and defense would be better managed by the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the National Police under the coordination of ABRI, so the argument went. In retrospect, one suspects the real reason for the incorporation of the police into ABRI had more to do with the politics of power and the desire to control the country; a desire held both by ABRI's leadership and president Soeharto.

Whatever the real reason was, the incorporation of the police into the military deprived the police of the chance to develop into a truly professional force. Our existing police officers have been educated and trained according to military doctrines. This is most apparent, even today, in the repressive way the police deal with peaceful demonstrators. Under the current doctrine, the police are taught to view demonstrators as enemies and deal with them accordingly.

Until recently, the Army was deployed to quell protests. The bloody tragedy in the Tanjung Priok district of Jakarta in 1984, and the massacre near Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili, East Timor, in 1991 are just two of dozens of incidents where bloodshed could have been avoided if the police had the capability and professionalism to handle protests themselves.

The National Police's immediate priority now is to regain the public's trust and confidence. This will only be possible if the police are allowed to be a truly independent force.

Changing the police's caps or uniforms is a token measure. Substantive changes must follow, like putting the police under the president, the Ministry of Home Affairs or under each provincial governor. Anything to make the separation from ABRI complete. The entire police force also must be reeducated under a new doctrine.

Judging by the frequent eruptions of violence in many parts of the country in recent months, time is not on our side.