Jakarta – After 13 years of the ostensible reform in the National Police, the institution remains one of the most corrupt institutions in the country, critics said ahead of the force's 65th anniversary early next month.

Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) executive director Poengky Indarti said corruption perception surveys such as Transparency International Indonesia's persistently positioned the National Police among the most corrupt institutions in the country.

"This evaluation is a 'gift' for the National Police on their upcoming 65th anniversary on July 1," Poengky said at a discussion on police reform in Jakarta recently.

When president Soeharto was forced from power in 1998, the institution committed to reforms. In 1999, the National Police were officially separated from the military. Previously, the National Police were under the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), which comprised the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Police.

Police observer Bambang Widodo Umar said that after the police force's separation from the military, the police had undergone some changes – mostly physical – such as better buildings, and better and more cars. "However, the changes aren't evident in their behavior. In fact police behavior has degraded," he said.

"[Before 1998], the police were still afraid [of doing wrong] because of the long arm of the Military Police. But now, they are not afraid because the investigators are their own friends," the former police officer said.

Bambang said the police's role as investigators had to be revised. "In continental law, police do not also function as investigators but only as magistrates or a prosecutorial assistants because an investigator has to be a law graduate," he said, adding that the police's role as investigators was designed by Soeharto so he could benefit from it.

Bambang said notorious police behavior was a result of the police academy curriculum. "From the start cadets are indoctrinated to be proud to do 'challenging and heroic' duties like handling terrorism. They were not taught to do their basic functions: to protect, to serve and to guard civil society. Those functions are seen as 'soft duties'," he said.

Ahmad Yani from the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs, said many problems in the National Police could be better monitored if the commission was more united.

"Less than 10 percent of the [Commission] lawmakers understand legal and police affairs. That's why they are only active when high-profile cases come up but never when more substantial issues occur," he said.

Yani suggested that candidates for National Police chief be nominated by the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), not by the government, and elected by the House. (swd)