Unlike the TNI, the police want out of politics
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Unlike the Indonesian Military, the National Police would prefer to stay out of politics and use their right to vote in the upcoming general elections.
However, the 2002 law on the National Police would prevent the police from exercising their voting rights granted by the bill on general elections.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf said on Friday that the police would therefore let the government decide their political rights.
"Whatever the government's final decision is, the National Police will comply with it," Saleh told The Jakarta Post.
The government has submitted to the House of Representatives a bill on general elections that grants voting rights to military and police personnel.
The bill, if passed into law, will automatically force the military and the police to relinquish their seats in the House and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's highest legislative body, by 2004.
The military, as well as the police, has been granted free seats at the House and Assembly for the past three decades. This has been criticized by many as undemocratic.
The military has openly stated that it would reject its voting rights and has been campaigning to remain in the Assembly until 2009, as permitted by MPR decree No. VII/2000.
Saleh said the police would rather not be treated differently from common citizens, and therefore, the bill on general elections should not specifically mention the police.
"The bill should say that every citizen is given the right to vote or be elected," he said.
If the bill is passed into law, Saleh said, the government should give freedom to each state institution, including the police, to make their own decision whether to exercise their voting rights.
The police would then issue an instruction to its personnel not to use their voting rights until the law is amended to allow police to vote.
Article 28 of Law No. 2/2002 on National Police clearly stipulates that members of the National Police do not have the right to vote or be elected.
Earlier, National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that the police were not concerned about the bill on general elections as the law on National Police prevented the police from voting.
Separately, a police inspector general who requested anonymity said on Friday that personally he would neither want the police not the Indonesian Military (TNI) to be represented in the Assembly (MPR) or the House (DPR).
"We are needed to protect the country. We are not here to play politics. There is just too much crime in the country, to bother about politics," the police official told the Post.
The official added that if ever a police official was to become an MPR member, let it be a matter of choice.
"Either you are a police official, or you are not. If you are, forget politics. If you are appointed and you want to become an MPR member, then you relinquish your police duties," the official said.
Debates over the bill on general elections will likely not start until the MPR annual session in August which will discuss, among other things, amendments to the 1945 Constitution.
The latest draft amendment agreed upon by the Assembly's ad hoc committee on constitutional amendment still allows the military and the police to remain in the Assembly until 2009.
Law No. 2/2002 on the National Police
Article 28
(1) The National Police are to maintain a neutral stance in the realm of politics and not engage in political activities.
(2) Members of the National Police do not have the right to vote or be elected.
(3) Members of the National Police may hold a position outside of police duties when they resign or retire from the service.
People's Consultative Assembly Decree No. VII/2000
Article 10
(1) The National Police are to maintain a neutral stance in the realm of politics and not engage in political activities.
(2) Members of the National Police do not have the right to vote or be elected. Their participation in formulating the direction of national policy through the People's Consultative Assembly will continue only until 2009.
(3) Members of the National Police can take civilian jobs when they resign or retire from the service.