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Jakarta Post

Commentary: Indonesia, a democracy teetering toward a police state

For all its faults and shortcomings, this week’s legislative elections confirm that democracy is taking root in this country

Endy M. Bayuni (The Jakarta Post)
JAKARTA
Sat, April 11, 2009

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Commentary: Indonesia, a democracy teetering toward a police state

For all its faults and shortcomings, this week’s legislative elections confirm that democracy is taking root in this country. The scale of the elections is so daunting — 171 million voters, more than 500,000 polling stations, and 15,000 seats at the national and regional legislatures — that something is bound to go wrong here and there. By and large, these elections have reaffirmed Indonesia’s claim as the world’s third largest democracy.

As always, somebody has to spoil the day, and this time, of all people or institutions, it’s the National Police — the very force that is supposed to ensure the elections proceed in a democratic, free and fair fashion.

There was the arrest of two whistle-blowers and the interrogation of journalists who reported their claims of election violations, and there was the arrest of Papuan students a few days ahead of the elections for advocating people boycott the polls, which led to the eruption of violence in Papua on Election Day on Thursday. In February, the East Java Police chief was removed, and his investigation into claims of fraud in last year’s gubernatorial election was virtually halted.

Did Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri misread his instruction when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed him chief of the National Police in September and told him to “secure” the elections? One would assume that “secure” means making sure everyone, without exception, can freely engage in this five-yearly democratic exercise with their constitutional rights fully protected by the police.

From the few incidents we have seen these past weeks (and let’s hope these are isolated incidents) involving the police, the general seems to have taken the word “secure” to mean the use of force, and at times his job was seemingly to “secure” Yudhoyono’s reelection and the victory of his Democratic Party.

The arrest of two whistle-blowers this week may seem small, but it has a much wider impact that would spook ordinary people, and probably even the media.

The two men would not have landed in hot water had the media not spotted the story. They were among tens of thousands of people who, encouraged by the elections supervisory committee, filed a report about campaign violations. In this case, they claimed they saw someone giving out Rp 10,000 notes and accompanying stickers telling people to vote for Edhie Baskoro, the son of Yudhoyono, who is running for a legislative seat in East Java for the Democratic Party.

Their report inevitably attracted media attention more so than the other thousands of claims because of the link to the President. The media posted the news with a rebuttal from Yudhoyono’s camp. One online news portal withdrew the story within hours and published an apology, apparently after some intervention from the presidential palace.

Following this, the journalists involved with the report from three media outlets were interrogated, and soon enough the East Java Police declared their proprietors as suspects in a defamation case against the President’s son, along with the two whistle-blowers. But within hours, the National Police announced the media proprietors were no longer suspects, although the status of the two whistle-blowers remains.

Many observers agree the police were too hasty in launching the interrogation and in arresting the whistle-blowers. The only logical explanation for their behavior is that the police had acted because it affects the son of the President.

Let’s face it, there were thousands of other reports of campaign violations, but the only arrests police made were of these two men? Shouldn’t they have waited for the elections supervisory committee to investigate the report? Or, going by their logic, shouldn’t they have arrested also all the other thousands people who filed reports of violations by this or that candidate and party, for defamation?

And what does this say about future elections, including the presidential election in July? Would people still dare to report campaign violations against the Democratic Party and the incumbent President, knowing that they risk getting arrested? Would the media still freely publish stories of allegations of violations against Yudhoyono and his party after this incident?

The same goes for the arrests of the Papuan students. They were not the only ones who campaigned for people to boycott the elections. Many public figures in Jakarta did so openly, including former president Abdurrahman Wahid. Why were the Papuans singled out?

The National Police has been struggling in the last 11 years to reform its public image, after building its reputation (along with the military) as nothing more than Soeharto’s henchmen for much of the previous 30 years.

It has made some progress, but still has some way to go. The annual survey by Transparency International Indonesia still places the police among the most perceived corrupt institutions in the country, along with the House of Representatives and others.

These incidents are not going the help Gen. Bambang and his force. If anything, he is creating a reputation for himself and the National Police that will grossly undermine their efforts of the last 11 years. The police may be feared, but they are not going to be respected by

the people.

And as far as Indonesians are concerned, it seems that we may live in a democracy, but one that is dangerously going to be governed like a police state.

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