Police same as hoodlums?

Police same as hoodlums?

From Bisnis Indonesia

I am really concerned over a recent traffic accident and the ensuing incident involving a police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officer, a Brimob truck, a car and another member of the police, who was the car owner. It was an accident because the truck was sideswiped by a sedan accidentally (meaning unintentionally, and uncontrollably). It really was an accident because nobody desired it, neither the car driver, nor the truck driver. It was also an incident because one of the passengers of the Brimob truck intentionally damaged the car immediately after the accident.

A preliminary on-the-spot investigation revealed that the truck driver was to blame. However, not knowing that the car belonged to a member of this republic's police force, the Brimob officer intentionally damaged the car. I do not think he would have damaged the car if he had known that the car belonged to member of the police. And I have a strong feeling that if the car owner were a civilian, more damage would have been done to the car and probably the owner would have been physically abused by the Brimob officer, who, as a policeman, should always protect citizens, particularly civilians.

We all know that what the Brimob officer did was a violation of both the police code of discipline, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Criminal Code. It was something illogical given that we are now trying to improve law enforcement across the country. Besides, we have seen too many violations of the law involving government officials, including members not only of the police but also the Army. We may therefore well ask ourselves and others, how can we expect members of the public to obey the law if the law enforcement officers themselves disobey the law and, further, engage in untold violations of the law?

I think President Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur as he is familiarly known, and the members of the political elite have to share in the blame for the nation's moral decadence when it comes to reform in all fields, including law enforcement. I think we have been led astray. All we need are leaders who always set good examples in all fields.

Should there be efforts to eliminate hoodlums, we as the public will give our full support. We want, however, not only to eliminate ordinary hoodlums (preman) but also those in uniforms.

SANTOSO

Cibinong, West Java