Violations of civil and political rights, most of which were carried out by police officers, dominated complaints filed to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) in 2009.
The director of LBH Jakarta, Nurkholis Hidayat, pointed out that 93 percent of the perpetrators that violated civil and political rights were police officers.
There were 138 reports of violations of civil and political rights, which affected 6,620 people.
Nurkholis said that victims reported being denied their right to a fair trial.
“False arrests and torture were also reported,” he said in press conference on Wednesday.
Hence, LBH Jakarta dubbed their 2009 annual report after Roman philosopher Cicero’s quote “Summum Ius Summa Iniuria” or “extreme law is the greatest injustice”.
Nurkholis said the title reflected the present state of law in the country, with ordinary citizens being criminalized, while the powerful were left untouched.
Ifdhal Kasim, from the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said that instead of empowering people the law was repressive, especially toward lay people.
“Lay people are the easiest target,” he said.
He cited the case of grandma Minah, a villager living near Purwokerto, Central Java, who was sentenced to 45 days in jail for stealing three cacao pods from a plantation company, and Bassar and Kholil who were sentenced to 15 days in prison with one-month probation for stealing watermelons.
National Police Commission (Kompolnas) secretary Adnan Pandu Pradja said the demand for police accountability from the public was rising.
“On an individual level, the police want to see improvement too. If you talk to any police officer they would agree that reform is needed, but the implementation of that is more difficult,” he said.
Adnan said there was no formal institution that could monitor the performance of the police, as the Commission’s authority was limited to giving recommendations.
“There should be an external body that can audit the performance of the police.
“We currently do not have such a body. As long as the internal disciplinary process does not follow principles of good governance, I’m pessimistic things will change,” he said.
Human rights expert M.M. Bilah said the police needed a paradigm shift. He said that historically the police force was part of the military, which had normalized a repressive culture within the police.
“The police should change that and become part of the people,” he said.
A lawyer for the Jakarta Police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Syamsu Rizal, said that disciplinary action against police officers who violated procedures was already in place.
He said that many cases had already gone to court.
“In these cases, we will inform the police about the type of violation that was committed to prevent future mistakes,” he said.
LBH Jakarta received 1,061 complaints this year, or 83 fewer cases than last year.
Violations of civil and political rights were the second-highest reason for complaints received by the LBH. The highest number of cases, totaling 227 reports, were in relation to violations of labor rights, with some 172,195 people affected.
The labor affairs reports also include company layoffs.
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