Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The record of the police in handling graft cases, has been poor, say experts, prompting demands to government to hand over the authority to probe such cases to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Instead, a discussion here Sunday proposed that the police concentrate on investigating non-graft crimes, such as terrorism, drug trafficking, robbery and street crimes as well as focusing on crime prevention, as rising crime had made the public feel insecure.

"I strongly suggest to the police to give up its authority to investigate graft cases simply because of their inability to do so," Bambang Widodo Umar, a police expert from the University of Indonesia, said.

Bambang, who was also a former member of the police service himself, acknowledged that a police officer was not trained to be able to handle sophisticated cases like graft cases that would need more comprehensive legal skills rather than field experience.

"Police cadets are trained to be able to uphold security and maintain order. Thus they are not learning subjects similar to their counterparts at law school. And this is what made the police incapable of handling graft cases, especially those involving sophisticated engineering of legal and financial matters," he said.

Bambang said it would be better for the police to focus on how to handle other form of crimes, starting from petty crimes to pursuing drug gangsters and terrorists. He said that police skill and resources were more needed in tackling these kinds of crimes.

"In these particular fields, the police have been able to write down their success stories. Thus let us see more of that in the future," he said.

Emerson Yuntho from Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said that from 2002 to 2008 there were at least 17 corruption cases the police have handled, and in all these cases there was little or no progress.

"The police are so far failing to provide transparency about these cases. Thus, we never know whether or not these cases are completed," he said.

Among such cases were the allegations of misuse of account no. 502 said to have caused Rp 20.9 trillion in state losses. The case was opened in 2003 and several former officials such as former Central Bank governor Syahril Sabirin, former Indonesian Bank and Restructuring Agency (IBRA) chief Putu Gede Ary Suta and Cacuk Sudaryanto had been named as suspects.

However apparently no further legal steps regarding this case were taken from the police side.

Another case indicating police failure in handling corruption cases was when the police opened a case in 2005 on alleged graft in the procurement of police communication devices and radios, said to have caused Rp 240 billion in state losses. But there has been no news on any continued progress in this case until now.

There has been speculation that police officials may have received bribes to stop the progress of the investigations into these cases.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Ketut Untung Yoga Ana, said he appreciated these criticisms, but denied these possible allegations. He refused to comment on the suggestion that the police might give up their authority to make investigations into graft cases.