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The National Police are going intellectually bankrupt
A heated dispute between the National Police and Tempo magazine seems to be waning following the police’s stated a desire to solve the fracas out of the court
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heated dispute between the National Police and Tempo magazine seems to be waning following the police’s stated a desire to solve the fracas out of the court. The magazine’s cover illustration of a caricature of a police officer leading piggy banks on a leash has sparked the anger from the police.
Rather than responding to the story’s allegations on implausibly large bank accounts held by some police generals, the police filed a complaint with the Press Council.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s call for calm between Tempo magazine and the police is highly appreciated. However, it’s a useless gesture without police action to impose sanctions against generals who have allegedly amassed wealth.
Despite a meeting between Tempo and the National Police to discuss a mediated solution, the dispute indicates that fears of the National Police’s intellectually bankruptcy are even worse than imagined. Several causes confirm the concerns.
First, a tradition of dialogue has long been absent from the National Police. The police have given the magazine’s cover and report a sound pounding, suggesting that the institution is under deadly attack.
The police threat to sue the weekly magazine, which has since been retracted, is unnecessary since the nature of the caricature is purely artistic.
The appointment of three-star police general Ito Sumardi to investigate how 21 police officers accumulated huge bank balances with meager salaries clearly indicates how the police are not ready to debate and entertain intense criticism. The police are supposed to establish an independent team including Tempo journalists and Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) officers to further probe into the police bank accounts.
The police are prone to address the issue in a delicate way. Tempo’s report does not represent the whole National Police body, they say, only 21 of its personnel. In other words, it is not a general trend.
It is unfortunate that the filing a complaint by the police with the Press Council have proved its defense-mechanism on one side and its security approach on the other. The former focuses on resolving and transforming conflict, while the latter focuses on punishment.
Second, the police are running out of intellectual officers. In response to any particular issue, an
intellectual prefers erudite discussion to prejudice. The quarrel between the National Police and Tempo magazine calls for more cerebral resolution.
The police’s image will not be so poor if they adopt scholarly approaches, like delivering response articles to frame positive debate and maintain two-way communication in the media.
The National Police are not now headed in that direction. Having failed to preserve its image, the police busy themselves with ambitious works, such as terrorism eradication.
If Petrus Reinhard Golose, an intellectual police officer, succeeded in releasing his book entitled Deradicalizing Terrorism, how come the police are not capable of publishing other books, on bribery or internal corruption? Terrorism eradication is crucial. Bribery elimination, however, is equally important.
Third, the police are applying unfair treatment. The police lack focus and have a biased approach.
The police’s success in eradicating corruption and their failure in coping with bribery actually reinforces its poor performance and biases. It is likely the issue on police bank accounts is a tipping point of the deep-rooted illness within the institution.
The public might recall the case of Susno Duadji, which aired allegations of decay and disease in the police force. While the police quickly detained Susno, they failed to get rid of corrupt officers in the country’s enforcement institutions.
Public disappointment with the police makes sense. Imagine! Just as Susno was unsuccessful in revealing police corruption, Tempo magazine is perceived to encounter many more hurdles in exposing the vicious circle of rotten police officials. Grass roots people long witness how bribery probes of high-ranking and law enforcement officials have gone off the rails.
Tempo journalists as well as Susno have appeared on stage as whistleblowing saints amid a corrupt system. Failure to provide protection for them will only protect corrupt officers and invite the death of whistleblowers in this country.
The writer is a lecturer at Andalas University, Padang, and a graduate of the University of Canberra in Australia.
