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