Cop chief told to promote rights

Irawaty Wardany ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 10/06/2008 9:56 AM  |  National

Human Rights activists have welcomed the changing of the guard in the National Police, urging new top cop Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri to do more to solve crimes against humanity.

National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) member Ahmad Baso believed Bambang was committed to law enforcement against perpetrators of human rights violations.

"We have a more positive response from him regarding complaints from members of the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB)," he said, referring to the recent attack on freedom of religion activists by hardline groups.

Ahmad said the police had acted quickly by identifying suspects who allegedly responsible for the attack at the National Monument (Monas) on June 1, 2008.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated Bambang as the new National Police chief Tuesday, replacing Gen. Sutanto who retired the same day.

"We will hold a meeting and probably sign an MoU with the new police chief on the handling of human rights violations soon after the Idul Fitri holiday," Ahmad said.

He added that so far he thought that the police were lacking enough coordination with the rights body. Citing an example, he said that police leadership had responded to reports of rights abuses, but there had been a lack of follow-up at lower level.

"That's what need to be fixed," Ahmad said.

He added Bambang was facing many challenges if he was really committed to institutional reform within the police force.

"Around 40 percent of human rights violations that have been reported to us involved the police. We expect the new police chief to offer a solution so that his police personnel can uphold respect for human rights," he said.

He urged the new police chief to respond to alleged human rights abuses involving police personnel more quickly, without hiding behind complicated bureaucracy as an excuse to delay investigations into such cases.

Chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Usman Hamid shared a high expectation of Bambang's commitment to human rights.

"There were some positive signs in the way Pak Bambang handled human rights violation cases during his term as the chief of detectives of the National Police. First of all, there were significant developments in the investigation into the murder of rights activist Munir," Usman said Saturday.

After years of investigation, the police named former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief Muchdi Purwoprajono as a new suspect. The police accused Muchdi of premeditating the murder.

Muchdi's trial is underway at the South Jakarta District Court.

"There were two detective chiefs before Bambang, Suyitno Landung and Makbul Padmanegara, but under those two officers the probe into Munir's case seemed to have ground to a halt," Usman said.

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