Soldiers told to go back to barrack

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)