The National Police discharged 365 officers and fined more than 3,000 others for involvement in, among others, adultery, illegal drugs, robbery and shooting cases. Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said that the force continued to step up both internal and external supervision to increase police officer discipline. He said external supervision was conducted by independent institutions, including the National Police Commission, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and a number of civic groups such as the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). The activists, however, criticized the half-hearted reform of the police institution, saying it did not reach the heart of the issues. They said the institution had a poor response to public reports.
We received only PRO responses. - Editor
Police bureaucracy is a disappointment
Paundra Jhalugilang
Faculty of Humanities
University of Indonesia, Jakarta
In my opinion, police reformation should start now. It is no secret that police bureaucracy is poor and a disappointment.
The traffic fine is a good example. By law, the police will take our driving license if we violate traffic rules and can only retrieve it if the court approves. But here in this country, we can bribe the police depending on our argument and negotiation skill.
I believe some people do not want to "pay" the police, but facing court bureaucracy is not a better option. I think it is more effective that people pay fines at the bank and retrieve the driving license at a police station.
Bribing is only one problem in the police department. Nowadays people have lost trust of the police. Instead of giving protection and serving the public, some officers abuse their rights.
A friend accidentally bumped his motorcycle into another in traffic. He apologized and offered a settlement to the rider. The man did not respond and instead hit my friend while shouting: "I'm a police officer, don't mess with me!". My friend was injured because he had brushed with a policeman's ego.
Instead of protecting and serving the public, police sometimes make people feel insecure. We often hear in the news the police abuse citizens who have been arrested or threaten a neighborhood.
People need the police and the other way around. I disagree with Evan Brimob who made a comment on his Facebook page that the police do not need to listen to people. He was condemned for that comment. Whether Evan is really a brimob (police mobile brigade) member, it shows how people despise this arroganct behavior.
Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri seems he has the will for reformation. He checked on police stations in Jakarta and made some breakthroughs by simplifying the driving license extension process.
The police can start with simple steps to reform themselves and move on to cover all aspects. The basic aspects they need to change is financial transparency, human resources (recruitment and training), police stations facilities and renumeration. The better the welfare of the police the better the attempts at curbing corruption or bribery at the police department.
The police need to improve
Rommy Kharisma Karindon
Student of Jenderal Soedirman University
Purwokerto, Central Java
I support reformation at the police institution for two reasons. First, it will improve the police's tainted image. For a long time the police have had a bad name for involvement in corruption and other crimes.
I surfed the Internet recently and found an article about irresponsible police officers accompanied by photos of a policeman on a motorcycle passing the traffic light when it was red, another has no police license plate on the motorcycle and another depicts a policeman driving without wearing a helmet.
There was also a photo of a police officer receiving bribes from a motorist who broke a traffic regulation and was supposed to be fined.
I was surprised reading the title that the author had no respect for the police institution. I will not say that all police officers in general are corrupt or irresponsible.
I believe that the police are part of society, while society depends on the police for security. By reforming themselves, the police can recover their image as protectors of society.
The second reason is that a thorough reformation will create public opinion that the police want to improve themselves and become a more reliable institution.
Next topic:
The Communications and Information Technology Ministry reportedly is preparing a regulation to curb Internet-related crime. The regulation will require content providers to be responsible for their content. The providers of multimedia services will be banned from distributing, transmitting and making accessible multimedia content deemed pornographic, violating public decency, promotes gambling or "communicates lies and misleading information". Under the regulation, content providers failing to remove such content can have their permits revoked.
Whatever your stance is, give us your opinion on how this regulation may affect press freedom and people's creativity.
Send us your opinion in 350 words. The best opinions will be published on March 21.
