Who owns the police?

Many claim that we are a fast-changing society without realizing that some aspects of it have refused to modernize. One notable example is that objectionable attitudes and practices within our police force, the most talked-about component of the Armed Forces (ABRI), have changed little.

Police officers are supposed to be close to the people because it is their job to protect them. But the relationship between the two is not as good as should be expected.

Instances of police brutality continue to be commonplace, while controversial murder cases often linger unsolved for years. The torture and brutal murder of Marsinah, a female labor activist in East Java, in 1993 is one such case that has even drawn international attention. The kidnapping and murder of a journalist in Yogyakarta, Central Java, in 1996 after he wrote a report on the alleged corrupt practices of a high-ranking regency official is yet another. Such cases make people question: Who do the police think they are being paid to protect?

When the government decided in 1995 to abolish a requirement forcing organizers of public gatherings to obtain a police permit in advance, the people believed that the times in which the police had refused to respect them had ended.

They were wrong. Recent incidents in which police have tried to curb proreform activities have shown that many officers feel they still live in the Soeharto era in which they could act freely since the regime prioritized stability over human rights.

With such an abysmal human rights record, it came as no surprise that the well-respected National Commission on Human Rights recently asked the House of Representatives to review the police force's status. The committee has argued that the police should no longer be a "political tool" of the government and ABRI. "People everywhere demand that their police be professional in serving and protecting the public, instead of being a mere security tool for the power holder," said Satjipto Rahardjo, a commission member attending a hearing with House Commission I for defense and security, law, politics and information.

Satjipto, who is also a senior law professor and observer of police politics, said the police must now end their militaristic way of handling problems. Instead, he argued, it should follow a doctrine that is entirely different from that of the military.

The call sounds nothing but logical and timely to us amid the loud public cries for total reform. The incorporation of the police into ABRI was decided nearly four decades ago under the administration of then president Sukarno, who liked to appear in smashing military uniform and wanted to see that not only the Army, Navy and Air Force wielded military status, but also the police.

Gone were the early independent years when the police operated among the people under the coordination of the minister of home affairs. In the years that followed, it was common to see the police mobile brigade parade with tanks and armored vehicles in Jakarta's streets while some of their officers showed off paratrooper wings on their uniforms. The shift created a new class of uniformed group that became distant from the people it was intended to protect. It also caused a decline in professionalism in the police force.

We think it is high time that the police be returned to the people. The idea voiced by the human rights committee had actually been widely, but silently, discussed in public circles during Soeharto's presidency. We hope the House will take serious steps to reform the police force because at present, the status of the force is impeding the nation's move toward a more modern society.