The nation's commitment to civil society is being tested again as the debate intensifies over the bill on national security, which includes a major revamp of the National Police.

Public caution and openness in the bill's deliberation are needed to make sure the resulting law does not restore control over domestic security to the Indonesian Military (TNI).

For 32 years Soeharto used the military's sociopolitical functions quite effectively as a machine to maintain his power. After his fall in 1998 the nation pledged that the TNI would oversee only defense and external security affairs, while the police would handle domestic security and public order.

The public discourse changed considerably when TNI Commander Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto lashed out at the police for trying to retain their authority in security affairs, which he called "a big mistake".

For the police, the problem primarily arises from an article that stipulates the police would come under the supervision of a ministry, likely either home or justice. The other source of the dispute lies in the drafting process, which police leaders say did not involve them. The draft law is sponsored by the Ministry of Defense.

To counter the move, the National Police will draft an alternative bill, which would maintain the force's direct supervision by the president.

Advocates of the national security bill, including Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, envision a professional police force which is no longer attached to the president. As in many democracies, the national or federal police would fall under the auspices of a ministry and their chief would not be a political appointee.

They say the organizational overhaul of the police is a logical consequence of the People's Consultative Assembly Decree in 2000 that defined the division of labor between the police and the military. The 2004 defense law, in accordance with the decree, laid the foundation for the military's supervision under the Defense Ministry. Many say the law is a manifestation of the reform within the military.

Professionalism is at stake when the police chief, as well as the TNI chief, directly answers to the President, as it opens up opportunities for abuses of power by the ruling regime as evident during the New Order.

The possibilities are still there despite the reform movement. This became apparent in 2004 when the Banyumas police chief lost his job for allegedly campaigning for the re-election of president Megawati Soekarnoputri. More serious abuses are very likely to happen as the National Police, unlike the TNI, enjoy the luxury of formulating and executing policies and managing their own budget. As if to confirm the damage the police could do, the Governance Assessment Survey recently released by Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University found the public felt the police were Indonesia's most graft-ridden public agency.

Modern countries, including neighboring Australia, opt to decentralize their police forces and limit the enforcement powers of the national police to national (federal) laws. For practical reasons, individual states or provinces run their own police forces to enforce laws within their own boundaries, since they deal with public order on daily basis.

On top of that, security is the responsibility of every citizen, in accordance with the Constitution. The police themselves cannot handle security alone, although their success in uncovering the masterminds of a series of terror attacks in the past few years deserves recognition. In many cases, particularly when it comes to armed violence, the police need assistance from the military.

But the objection of the police to the national security bill cannot be ignored. Placing the National Police under the Home Ministry, for example, may disrupt unity within the force and wreak havoc on national security as the regional police will think and act locally.

The police are facing their toughest challenge now that the country, and the rest of the world, is dealing with cross-boundary crimes, such as terrorism, money laundering, human, arms and drug trafficking. To fight such crimes, the National Police require adequate authority.

It's highly recommended, therefore, that the government invite the police, more scholars and experts as well as the general public to refine the bill before sending it to the House of Representatives. The debate over the bill should not be reduced to a continuation of the classic rivalry between the TNI and the police, nor should it reopen the military's path to security jobs.

It's imperative, too, in order to help build a strong civil society, that the bill provide a bigger role to the community.