Farouk Arnaz – Facing a wave of public criticism, the police backed down on Wednesday from their threat to reprimand an officer seen lip-synching and dancing in a now-famous YouTube video.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said the officer, First Brig. Norman Kamaru from the Gorontalo Mobile Brigade (Brimob), would not be punished because he was not on duty at the time of the incident.

He added that Norman was "an asset" to the force. "It's his creativity that we should appreciate. He's also renowned as a singer in his unit at the Gorontalo Police," he said. Anton said Norman should be allowed to "pursue his talent." That was extended to his "punishment," which required him to perform once again, but this time in front of his entire brigade.

Just a day earlier, Anton called the performance in the YouTube video, which showed Norman lip-synching and dancing to the Hindi song "Chaiyya Chaiyya," "naughty, childish behavior."

"What he did breaches the code of discipline, as he was wearing a uniform and was on duty at the guards' post," Anton said at the time.

Titled "Polisi Gorontalo Menggila" ("Gorontalo Police Goes Crazy"), the video has been viewed by almost 600,000 people since it was uploaded on March 29.

For his part, Norman told Metro TV on Wednesday that he had accepted his reprimand and vowed not to repeat his actions. He acknowledged recording the video himself, but said he did not upload it to the video-sharing Web site.

The Gorontalo Police, however, did not seem too concerned about the controversy.

One of Norman's fellow officers said Norman had a love for Bollywood movies and music. "He sings and dances to entertain us, he makes us laugh. He's a star," the officer said.

Experts have suggested the police concentrate on other, more important issues facing the nation instead of cracking down on a singing cop.