Corrupt police stigma still strong among Jakarta public

Andra Wisnu ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 07/01/2009 12:14 PM  |  Headlines

Agnes, who would not give her last name for safety reasons, had to pay the police nearly Rp 3 million (US$294) to get a report confirming her car had been stolen last January.

"The money went in several phases of filing a police report," she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"First, it was demanded by the police officer writing the report, saying I had to pay to get the Pulogadung Police chief to sign it so I could take the report home."

Agnes did as told, saying the same thing happened over and again, all the way to the Jakarta Police's all-in-one administration office (Samsat). She knew she did not need to pay, but decided not to file a complaint.

"I was just glad I could finally claim my insurance," she said.

"I didn't care how much I had to pay. I just wished I didn't have to feel so scared because there was just no sense that I was being helped."

It was a feeling shared by others interviewed by the Post. Despite the police's efforts to repair their image, rampant corruption within the force continues to muddy its reputation.

Agnes's experience occurred in the same month as the launch of a police program that then-newly inaugurated National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri promised would reform bureaucracy.

Dubbed Quick Wins, the program provides a hotline for reports, and pledges more transparency in recruitment - to prevent favoritism - and in investigations, as well as free and faster administrative services.

On Tuesday, Bambang reiterated this promise, saying salary increases for officers were planned by next January, further pledging to continue with the Quick Wins program.

"We'll show the progress being made in the police force," he said at an event to celebrate the force's 63rd anniversary, which falls Wednesday.

But few see any progress. Achmad Faisal, 18, from Cikokol, Tangerang, said he no longer wanted to deal with the police, after they demanded Rp 450,000 last month for a driver's license without taking the test.

Corruption is not the force's only problem. Last week, Amnesty International released an 84-page report detailing police brutality, from victims, law enforcement officials, lawyers, journalists and rights groups.

In 2007, a UN special rapporteur for torture visited Indonesia and found police used torture as a "routine practice in Jakarta and other metropolitan areas of Java".

Neta S. Pane, head of the Indonesian Police Watch, an NGO monitoring police work in the country, said there were still too many irresponsible police officers to say the police were making progress.

He played down the planned salary raise, saying the police chief had missed the heart of the matter.

"The most important thing is for the police chiefs to really control their subordinates. Based on our observations, internal affairs doesn't investigate high-ranking officers."