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yanmar’s government has reached out to Indonesia for assistance in training its community police, the latter’s top diplomat has said, as Jakarta continues to assist Naypyidaw in overcoming a dire conflict and building trust among the international community.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met with Myanmar’s National Security Advisor U Thaung Tun in the former’s Jakarta office, where they talked candidly about the latest developments in the troubled Rakhine state.

“We have asked Myanmar to be transparent in order to gain the trust of other countries,” Retno said at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Thaung Tun, who is also the civilian Myanmar government’s union minister, underlined the importance of cooperation on community policing, a topic Retno said was also touched upon during a private meeting with National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian on Tuesday.

“Our police officers have experience that they can share with Myanmar — like carrying out duties in a friendly manner toward the communities they serve,” the minister said, reiterating the importance of trust-building among Myanmar’s religiously and ethnically diverse communities.

Sectarian tensions have seen Rakhine become the center of an unfurling conflict in which hundreds of thousands of stateless Rohingya have fled alleged violence and oppression by security actors into neighboring Bangladesh, prompting outrage from international rights groups.

Observers have also noted the case of two Reuters journalists, who were detained for obtaining secret state documents that provided evidence of alleged ethnic cleansing, as a prime example of the military’s grip on the Myanmar police.

“It is not easy to control the police’s role because they are still semi-military,” said Ito Sumardi, a former Indonesian ambassador to Myanmar.

In Myanmar, he said, the police reported to the Home Ministry, one of several key institutions controlled by the country’s de facto military rulers, the Tatmadaw.

Ito, who was at one time also the National Police’s head of criminal investigations, said he believed Myanmar would be able to benefit from Indonesia’s history of police reforms.

At the height of Indonesia’s New Order regime, the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) were also actively involved in politics and business.

Under former president BJ Habibie’s reform push, the National Police separated from the Indonesian Military (TNI), and in 2000, the People’s Consultative Assembly issued a decree stipulating that the police would report directly to the president.

It has been 18 years since the National Police separated from the TNI, Ito said.

“After the Reform Era, Indonesia’s police force became an independent body [...], while in Myanmar they have yet to apply standard operating procedures for civilian police,” he said.

“Of course they don’t have to wait 18 years to pass to have [a modern police force]. It is important to learn from Indonesia — which has emotional connections and a good relationship with Myanmar — as it also happened to go through a similar process in the past.”

However, he said one should not expect any immediate reforms in Myanmar’s police force, as the constitutional settlement awarded a quarter of all parliamentary seats to the military, giving them the right to veto any proposal.

National Police officials were unavailable for comment. (tjs)