Rusdihardjo's dismissal

Rusdihardjo's dismissal

Rusdihardjo's dismissal as chief of the National Police must
not be seen as the removal of an individual officer. It could
well be that Gus Dur (President Abdurrahman Wahid) is
disappointed with Rusdihardjo's performance. It would be more
correct, however, to see it as his disappointment with the police
as an institution.

The inability of the police to catch the perpetrators of the
recent bombings is but a morsel in a whole stack of inabilities.
In the end, this set of inabilities helped shape its deviant
character. The police, which should be arresting and detaining,
has been busy chasing and safeguarding. Problems that are
bothering the public and should be solved are made into improper
sources of profit.

Now, with the police separated from the military, it has to
turn itself into a professional law enforcement agency and it
isn't ready for the task. They are still luxuriating in the old
habit of seeing the resolution of problems as a source of cash
instead of a service and a task.

This inability on the part of the police to enforce the law is
being further aggravated by President Gus Dur's style of
governing, which is not only careless, but confused and
explosive.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta