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EDITORIAL: As police turn 71
As we are proud of the National Police’s achievements, we also expect continuing police reform in protecting the public and themselves.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo inspects officers during the National Police anniversary ceremony at the National Monument in Central Jakarta on Monday. (Kompas.com/Garry Andrew Lotulung)
T
he newborn Bhayangkariwati Ramadniya was a week old after she was brought into the world with the assistance of the Purwakarta Police and the traffic police on a bus on the Cipali toll road. As she was born on July 2 during the recent exodus, her parents named her after the annual commemoration of the National Police, Bhayangkara Day.
The ceremony to mark the force’s anniversary was held Monday following the Idul Fitri holiday, when police officers were mostly on duty to ensure that holiday revelers could gather with family members and travel back in one piece.
The sudden duty to assist in childbirth during the journey of millions of urbanites reflects the unplanned involvement of the police in emergencies, given their role as the people’s protectors.
Unfortunately, it is the police’s public face as law enforcers that has also made them targets, including of terrorists in past years. The latest victims were two Mobile Brigade members who were stabbed, not fatally, after praying at a mosque near the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta on June 30.
The survivors were among those awarded by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Bhayangkara Day, with a survivor of the Kampung Melayu suicide bombing in East Jakarta.
President Jokowi reminded the police to, among other things, “improve internal management to suppress negative cultures” in the force, such as “corruption, the use of excessive force, arrogance of authority” and abuse of power and bribery. Recently, police candidates and their families accused the West Java police of foul play in the recruitment of police cadets.
The National Police (Polri) have also been accused of demanding grease money for various services, from issuing driver’s licenses to tracking down lost cars and other property. Such experience overshadows people’s praise for police efforts in combating drug abuse, terrorism and human trafficking, among other things.
The latest embarrassing incident for the police was a video that went viral, showing the wife of a high-ranking officer slapping an airport security officer who requested she remove her watch so that it could go through the X-ray machine.
As we are proud of the National Police’s achievements, we also expect continuing police reform under its chief, Gen. Tito Karnavian, in protecting the public and themselves. Police officers seconded to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) equally face threats, but by those who wish to remain untouchable — including, many suspect, those within Polri itself.
As the National Police turn 71 years old, the public awaits the recovery of leading KPK investigator, former police officer Novel Baswedan, and the National Police’s success in revealing and prosecuting the perpetrators who threw acid in his face three months ago.
