Sutanto's move to clean up police questionable: Watchdog
Sutanto's move to clean up police questionable: Watchdog
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Police has yet to demonstrate its full support for
the drive against corruption as none of the graft and bribery
cases involving its officers have been handed over to the
Attorney General's Office, a police watchdog says.
Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) executive director Neta S. Pane
said in a press statement released on Sunday that the National
Police had been moving too slowly in handling internal
corruption.
"The police should be in the vanguard of the corruption
eradication campaign. Ironically, the institution has been
tainted by bribery, budget mark-ups and theft of state money,"
Neta was quoted by Antara as saying.
The statement was released in connection with National Police
chief Gen. Sutanto's first 100 days in office.
Corruption cases involving police officers include the Rp 1.7
trillion (US$170 million) scandal at state-run Bank Negara
Indonesia, which is said to involve Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko; a
mark-up in a communications equipment project in the National
Police; suspicious bank accounts belonging to 15 active and
retired police officers, and a number of illegal logging cases
involving police officers.
The chief of the Tebing Tinggi Police in North Sumatra has
lost his job for his alleged role in the smuggling of sugar, and
the chief of the Bogor Police has been replaced in connection
with illegal charges imposed on people applying for driving
licenses.
"Strangely, no criminal investigations have followed these
replacements. The police chiefs were suspended but have evaded
justice," Neta said.
The police had also been slow to investigate a number of
corruption cases in other government institutions, which are
believed to have caused up to Rp 140 trillion in state losses, as
well as the failure of former Attorney General M.A. Rachman to
declare all his assets.
"There hasn't been any progress in these cases for months, and
the police do not seem to be prioritizing them," Neta said.
The IPW attributes the police's poor performance to Sutanto's
reluctance to get rid of the 'deadwood' in the institution.
"Within 100 days, Sutanto only replaced five regional police
chiefs and two senior officers at National Police Headquarters.
Whereas a major reshuffle would be an initial step to improving
the National Police's performance," Neta said.
Sutanto, he added, must dare to overcome the bureaucratic
obstacles to weed out the 'bad cops' for the sake of increased
public trust in the force.