Poor recruitment behind Military-Police clash

Poor recruitment behind Military-Police clash

JAKARTA (JP): A criminologist says here that poor recruitment
and the low quality of education in both the military and police
have caused frequent clashes between personnel of both
institutions, necessitating apologies from both the National
Police and Military chiefs for the indefensible behavior of their
members.

Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, a criminologist at the University of
Indonesia in Jakarta, said recruitment methods for the military
and police ought to be different from those for civilian
institutions.

"Leaders of the two institutions should apologize to the
public, particularly victims of the incident," added Harkristuti.

She added that National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro and
Indonesian Military Commander Adm. Widodo AS ought to apologize
to the public, especially the relatives of the victims and all
parties affected by the incidents.

Harkristuti said potential members of the police and military
had to meet certain requirements, such as being in good physical
health and possessing a certain level of IQ.

"The psychological test must be conducted very carefully as it
can measure the aggressiveness of the potential candidates. This
is very important because they will be authorized to use guns in
the future," she said to The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"If a candidate displays too much aggressiveness, he or she
should not be accepted," she said, adding that public relations
know-how should also be taught to police candidates because they
would have in the future to deal with a lot of people in their
daily jobs.

She commented on Saturday's clash between police and military
members in the East Java town of Madiun, in which two students
were killed.

It happened when Navy, Army and police officers admonished two
soldiers who, on a motorcycle, cut in front of their car,
ignoring many vehicles lining up for gas at a gas station.

Apart from claiming two lives, the incident also damaged a
number of buildings owned by the police.

According to Harkristuti, military and police trainees had
frequently to be reminded about the doctrine that being military
or police officers they became the servants of the people.

"The doctrine is important because we often see soldiers and
police officers act as though they were superior to civilians and
expect civilians to serve them," she said.

Another criminologist, Mulyana W. Kusumah, blamed the lack of
discipline among military and police members as the cause of
frequent clashes between the Army and the police.

"What happened in Madiun indicates a discipline crisis in both
the Military and the police," Mulyana told the Post on Monday.

Mulyana said clashes between the personnel of both
institutions often occurred in conflict areas. "Just recently
clashes between military personnel and police officers also
occurred in Maluku and in Sampit, Central Kalimantan," Mulyana
added.

He praised chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command
(Kostrad) Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu's decision to discharge the
commander and the deputy commander of Infantry Battalion 501 and
20 members of the battalion over the clash. (02)