Bagus B.T. Saragih – A group of lawyers have challenged the 2002 Police Law that places the police under direct auspices of the President, a policy they say may jeopardize the force's professionalism.
The lawyers – Andi Asrun, Dorel Almir and Merlina – filed their petition to the Constitutional Court on Thursday. They are currently representing Zainal Arifin Hoesein, a former staffer at the Constitutional Court who claimed to have been wrongly charged by the police in a forgery case involving a top Democratic Party politician.
The lawyers suspected that their client had been made a scapegoat in the case by the police, whom they accused of having deliberately spared the real masterminds behind the case because of their affiliation to the powers that be.
Andi said that two articles in the law that state that the police are structurally under the president were not in line with the Constitution as they were prone to misuse. "There is no article in the Constitution stipulating that the police are directly under the President's control," he said.
The lawyers said in their petition that the police's structural position should be under a ministry, citing the Home and Defense ministries. This idea has long been proposed but has never been responded to positively. "My client and I as his lawyer have been victims of the inconstitutional positioning of the police in the state administrative," Andi said.
Andi acknowledged there was no guarantee that political intervention would be history should the police be put under a ministry. "But at least the chances will be slimmer. The potential for hesitation by police detectives in probing cases implicating 'powerful' figures can be minimized," he said.
Human rights activist Al Araf from Imparsial echoed Andi's statement. "The police could be also placed under a new ministry such as the police ministry. It will create a political buffer for potential political interference from the President and his inner circle," he said.
After the end of Soeharto's New Order regime, the National Police were divided from their mother force: the Indonesian Military. The move was aimed at establishing a more professional civilian police force.
However, as time goes by, observers have seen the police as "Enjoying their independence too much, leading to abuse of power," while activists claimed that the police's current position "Created an opportunity for those in power to abuse the force to please their political interests".
University of Indonesia criminologist and police analyst Adrianus Meliala said the public's failure to see a significant result in police reform efforts also resulted from the force's structural issue.
"Structurally, we have tried to position the police away from the military. The police are now under the control of the President, no longer the military. But this is a compromise, it is not an ideal position.
"The police should be under a political or ministerial institution, because there should be a manager to whom the police are accountable. Currently the National Police chief has a conflict of interest: He is the one who lays out policies but is also the one who executes them," he said.
In many countries, the police are indeed structurally under a ministry. The French National Police, for example, comes under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry.
In India, law enforcement is carried out by numerous law enforcement agencies. At the federal level, the many agencies are controlled by the Home Ministry.
Legal expert Andi Hamzah told kompas.com that repositioning the police to be under a ministry could also lead to budget efficiency.
BINUS University forensic psychology expert Reza Indragiri Amriel said the police's positioning would not significantly contribute to the improvement of the force personnel's quality, which he said was more important.
"This issue has repeatedly been taken to the public but I see the discussion has always been driven by political motives. It is more important to reform the force's culture and their personnel's soft skills and integrity, no matter where they are structurally placed," he said.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said the police respected the lawyers' judicial review. "We respect the public, it is their right [to file a review]," he said.