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Police chief firm on investigating watchdog
Adrianus Meliala
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Adrianus Meliala. JP/P.J. Leo
Civil society and human rights groups have strongly criticized National Police chief Gen. Sutarman for stating that the force will continue to investigate a member of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), a state-sanctioned watchdog, for speaking out in a TV interview about rampant corruption in the police.
Sutarman's target was Adrianus Meliala, also a professor of criminology at the University of Indonesia (UI).
Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) chairman Neta S. Pane said on Wednesday that the legal battle against Adrianus reflected the police's reluctance to accept criticism and begin the long-stalled process of bureaucratic reform within the institution.
'There are scores of corruption cases implicating rank-and-file officers up to police generals, yet the force appears to keep those from public scrutiny and does not bring corrupt officers to justice,' Neta said during a meeting at Kompolnas in Jakarta.
Adrianus, a former journalist, is under investigation for allegedly defaming the force in a recent interview on Metro TV, in which he said that criminal investigation divisions at the regional police level were often exploited like 'automatic teller machines' by the police's top brass to enrich themselves.
The statement was made in response to the arrest of four West Java Police officers, who were caught red-handed tampering with an online gambling investigation and accepting over Rp 5 billion (US$425,894) in bribes.
Adrianus declined to withdraw his statement and insisted it was based on numerous public complaints and reports from police officers received by Kompolnas.
Sutarman said the intention of investigating a promiment professor of criminology due to the latter's comments remained intact.
Sutarman said Adrianus should be held responsible for his words, despite Adrianus speaking out in his capacity as the member of Kompolnas.
'I will always accept criticism based on facts, but we cannot accept them if they are some sort of analytical view. Even my seniors ' former National Police chiefs ' feel these analyses are unacceptable,' he said.
IPW's Neta said there were several unresolved cases, including an alleged bribery case implicating Jakarta Police Traffic Corps director Sr. Comr. Nurhadi Yuwono and East Java Police Traffic Director Sr. Comr. Rahmat Hidayat. However, despite possessing strong evidence, the National Police have not launched an investigation into the allegations.
In May, Nurhadi, Rahmat and several of their subordinates were removed from their posts for allegedly accepting hundreds of millions of rupiah in kickbacks from agencies arranging driver's licenses and vehicle registration documents.
The National Police have also been accused of dragging their feet in investigating a civil servant in Batam municipality, Riau Islands. The individual had a questionable bank balance of Rp 1.3 trillion and was allegedly linked to the fuel-smuggling business.
Ray Rangkuti of the Indonesian Civil Society Circle said the investigation into Adrianus gave the impression that the National Police were belittling Kompolnas, which was tasked with supervising the police's performance.
'Adrianus' summons may be the police's way of showing that they can treat Kompolnas as their little brother or subordinate,' he said.
