Poor education blamed for police violence

Poor education blamed for police violence

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta

Observers are blaming poor education, inadequate training and the
absence of external control as the root causes of police violence
and inability to anticipate conflict across the country.

"After almost five years of reform, the police are still not
professional. Several cases of violence involving police
personnel, such as in Makassar and Ambon, exemplify their failure
to serve the people," said Rashid Lubis, the chairman of non-
governmental organization Police Watch.

Dozens of fully armed police personnel stormed the campus of
the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) in Makassar, South
Sulawesi on May 1, brutally beating students in the compound,
including those who were attending lectures.

At least 61 students were injured in the incident that forced
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar to dismiss South
Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Jusuf Maggabarani and Greater
Makassar Police chief Sr. Comr. Jose Rizal Effendy.

The public also blamed police for failing to anticipate the
April 25 violence in Ambon, in which at least 38 people were
killed and 238 others injured.

According to Rashid, the incidents showed something was very
wrong with the education and training of the police.

"Because of their militaristic style of education, many police
personnel find it natural to beat people, or demonstrators. No
wonder so many violent incidents occur," Rashid told The Jakarta
Post.

Adrianus Meliala, a noted criminologist from the University of
Indonesia, said police had replaced most militaristic subjects
with subjects like human rights, conflict resolution, and public
relations.

"We have not seen the impact yet because the new curriculum
was implemented two years ago and only 50,000 personnel have
since graduated. The remaining 280,000 personnel are still
working within the old paradigm," Adrianus told the Post.

He said fresh recruits faced huge challenges. Due to their
training, their ideas were sometimes contrary to those of their
colleagues and immediate superiors.

"It will take six to seven years before these new recruits
take over the command. Hopefully, die-hard militaristic values
will wither away as new ideas emerge," said Adrianus.

Rashid and Adrianus agreed that lack of social control gave
the police freedom to do whatever they pleased.

They proposed the planned National Police commission be
established immediately, to monitor and asses the performance of
the police, especially new recruits.

Rashid said the commission was urgently needed as the police,
as an organization, had very weak internal control.

He said disagreement on the composition of the commission had
delayed its establishment.

"The government wants officials to occupy the majority of
seats on the commission, while many parties insist that public
representatives, such as non-governmental organizations and
academics, hold the majority," said Rashid.

The planned commission would have the authority to assess the
police, receive the complaints of the public and recommend the
appointment -- or replacement of -- the National Police chief.

Noted legal expert Pradjoto, meanwhile said that many police
personnel were underqualified due to an unclear recruitment and
training process.

Pradjoto said many banking crimes and other specific cases,
such as environmental and intellectual property rights cases,
were left unsolved because police investigators had insufficient
knowledge of those areas.

"They simply don't understand the problems. Corruption and
banking cases -- anything related to the economy -- requires
expertise. They cannot match the criminals. I propose that
officers handling such cases must, at least, have bachelors in
business and law," he said.

He added that the amount of money involved in such cases
complicated the process. Suspects were happy to share the money
with investigators to halt the investigation, he said.

Rashid also said his organization found, during 2001 and 2002,
that out of hundreds of special crimes reported, not one was
handed over to prosecutors.

David Ridwan Betz, chairman of the Allied Society for
Monitoring State Apparatus' Work (Amipka), said bribery was still
rampant in the police recruitment process, creating incapable
personnel.

"We still find bribery in the recruitment process. The police
headquarters has done little (to eradicate the practice) so far,"
said David.