Soldiers told to go back to barrack
JAKARTA (JP): Observers call for prompt issuance of regulations which give a clear cut of functions of military and police to avoid overlapping functions which have frequently sparked conflicts between their personnel.
Koesparmono Irsan and Munir joined the chorus on Thursday saying that the conflict between the military and police had reached an alarming level, not only because of the increasing number of clashes, but also because of the increasing number of personnel, from all levels, involved in the clashes.
Koesparmono Irsan, a lecturer at the Police College (PTIK), and Munir, a founder of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), urged that the military improve their defense skill and leave all territorial functions.
"Soldiers should go back to barrack and police shed their militaristic image to end smoldering conflicts between them," Koesparmono said.
Koesparmono, a former police general, stressed that 'back to barrack' would help the military to improve their professionalism and would be able to prevent worsening conflict between police and military.
"The presence of soldiers in districts and sub-districts is questioned as the territorial function is no longer necessary," said Koesparmono, who is also a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
Sharing his opinion, Munir, who is also human right activist, said to The Jakarta Post that it was the high time for the Indonesian Military to leave all territorial functions, "as it is the core of the problems so far."
But, both Koesparmono and Munir said that the police should also introspect, leave their militaristic style and start to focus on efforts to improve their professionalism as public servants.
Munir, also said that by now there was no clear cut of functions between the police and military although officially they had been separated for two years.
He said Indonesia needed several regulations like a national police law, the military law, and a national defense law which would give a clear separation of military and police functions.
He said that after the official separation of police from military, police should have fully dealt with security affairs, while the military, to some extent, should back up the police.
But in reality, the military personnel were always more dominant than the police officers in most operations, he added.
"Therefore, clashes between military and police personnel often took place when they involved in a joint security operation in conflicting area," said Munir.
Koesparmono stressed the need of the police officers to leave military style. "In this way they could adjust with atmosphere in which they only serve the people in security affairs."
"We still often see police officers using military approach when dealing with the people," he said.
Meanwhile, the National Resilience Agency (Lemhanas) Governor Ermaya Suradinata said his institution also discussed the future of the national police, after its separation from the Indonesian Military (TNI).
Discourses developed in Lemhanas discussions were the possibility of the National Police under the auspices of the Ministry of Home Affairs like in China, Russia, and Thailand.
Ermaya further said that in line with the implementation of regional autonomy, there was possibility that the police would be controlled by the regional administrations.
Koesparmono, said which institution is responsible for the National Police, is not a significant issue to resolve conflict between the police and military.
"The most important thing is that both sides will introspect and look into their own internal affairs," he added. (02)