Cultural reform, key to reduce violent police practices

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 06/26/2009 1:14 PM  |  National

Indonesian Police culture remains violent and exploitative, experts say.

"The police have shown major improvement in terms of reforming their technical proficiency, but are still lacking in terms of reformation of non-technical aspects," the deputy chairman of House of Representatives Commission III on Law and Human Rights, Suripto, told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Thursday.

"The reformation on the non-technical aspects should begin in the academy. The education in the academy should also encompass non-technical aspects, which will indoctrinate the future police force that their main job is to protect the citizens, not oppress them."

Suripto, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction, said the current policemen had inherited a feudalistic-style patron-client culture, which hindered them from improving their empathy towards society.

"The patron-client culture dictates people with higher authority should be served by others of status lower than theirs. This thinking needs to be changed as soon as possible."

A report published by London-based human rights group, Amnesty International, said the country's police force is frequently involved in the abuse and harassment of suspects and perpetrators.

The report also said the policemen involved in abuse were very rarely brought to justice.

A police affairs expert from the University of Indonesia, Bambang Widodo Umar, said the country needed an independent institution outside the police to ensure proper investigation of policemen involved in abuse cases.

"Investigation into abuse cases has been very difficult due to the fact the police have their own internal mechanism for handling violations.

"Therefore, it is very essential to have an external institution. The institution must be given the authority not only to supervise the police, but to investigate as well."

Bambang shared the same sentiment as Suripto, and said the key for complete police reform can be found in the police academy and its curriculum.

"The academy's recruitment process is the most basic and essential part of the reform. The police must start picking the right people from the get go. For example, the police should only enrol individuals who have a larger portion of social empathy than individualistic interest.

"The teaching method at the academy should also be changed. As of now, the teaching mechanism tends to be a *monologue', while it would be better if the academy students had the chance to have a *dialogue', because their job obliges them to listen to people's input and complaints."

Bambang then said that police reform, especially in relation to cultural aspects, had been "very slow".

However, the head of the politics, law and human rights department for the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Edwin Partogi, had a different view to both Bambang and Suripto in regards to the police's commitment to upholding human rights.

"I have to admit that Kontras still receives a lot of complaints regarding police violence, either from Jakarta and the regions. However, I think that the police force has managed to show a pretty serious commitment to human rights.

"For example, the police recently published the National Police Chief Regulation on Human Rights. The police's publishing of an internal regulation on the issue shows that the police force has a serious commitment to reforming and upholding human rights."

Police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said recently that by 2010, the institution would be loved, and not feared, by the people.

Indonesia is consistently rated one of the most corrupt countries in the world, which is seen as a key deterrent for foreign investment.

Transparency International Indonesia in January rated the police as the most corrupt institution in the country. (hdt)

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