Young officers defy police chief Bimantoro
JAKARTA (JP): In an act that shocked and shamed a number of top police generals, some 150 middle-ranking police officers declared on Monday that National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro should stop disobeying orders, and told him to comply with the instruction of President Abdurrahman Wahid to vacate his post.
The officers, who mostly ranged from adjutant senior commissioner to senior commissioner, noted that the National Police was positioned "right under the President," and that the National Police should not take issue with Bimantoro's dismissal, which they considered to be a natural phenomena.
"This matter has confused middle-ranking officers because Gen. Bimantoro should actually submit to the President's orders, but this is something he has not done. Instead, he is defying presidential orders," Sr. Comr. Alfon said at the meeting, which was attended by middle-ranking police officers and police top brass, at the National Police headquarters on Monday.
"I stress that this meeting is not being held to defy our superior officer (Gen. Bimantoro), but there are rules and regulations that need to be followed. The President presides over National Police headquarters. We must not forget that," Alfon argued.
Another officer, Sr. Comr. Salikhin, went on to stress that statements made by top police generals and former National Police chiefs did not represent the views of the nearly 200,000 police officers across the nation.
"Those statements made by the generals represent an unfair attitude, a defiant and authoritarian attitude. They do not represent the National Police force," Salikhin said.
"We, the members of the National Police, will not tolerate the political intervention of the House of Representatives (DPR). The National Police chief is directly subordinate to the President, and not the DPR."
Before he could go further, the Inspector-General of the National Police, Com. Gen. Ahwil Luthan, suddenly rushed towards the microphone and tried to stop the meeting from continuing.
"This is not what I had expected ... let's discuss this internally," Ahwil told those in attendance.
Salikhin instead held on to the microphone and continued to speak while Ahwil stood there, stunned, looking into the TV camera nervously.
Following the meeting, other officers stated that they were not afraid of losing their commissions over the matter.
"We have agreed on the fact that Gen. Surojo Bimantoro and the police generals who support him should stop this disgustingly disobedient attitude and allow the National Police to be led by the younger generation," Sr. Comr. Banja Nohar said.
The meeting shocked a number of police generals, who reportedly faxed in written expressions of support for Gen. Bimantoro to National Police headquarters after seeing the incident on television. Gen. Bimantoro, however, could not be reached for comment.
"It seems a certain party, probably from within the National Police, engineered this," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Separately, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social, and Security Affairs Gen. (ret) Agum Gumelar disclosed on Monday that he had suggested that Abdurrahman appoint a new National Police chief.
"This, of course, must be done in line with existing procedures," Agum said at a snap press briefing in his office.
"What occurred at National Police headquarters this morning is something that we never expected to witness. This country needs cohesion among its security forces. If the police fail to solve this dual leadership problem, I'm afraid of possible dissension emerging in their ranks," Agum said. (ylt/tso)