Jakarta – Activists and community figures voiced concern Sunday on corruption in the National Police, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's silence.
Attorney and Community Legal Aid chairman Taufik Basari read out a petition – signed by more than 500 people and calling on the President to take an affirmative stance on police reform – to demonstrators at the Constitutional Court in Central Jakarta on Sunday.
"We strongly urge President Yudhoyono to take extraordinary, courageous, fundamental and firm measures," he said at the rally.
It was also attended by prominent community figures, such as Danang Widoyoko of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, police observer Bambang Widodo Umar and Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence coordinator Haris Azhar.
The activists demanded the President take concrete action to revamp the police force, including firing top-ranking police officials allegedly involved in case brokering and evidence tampering, "cleaning" the police of all corruption and reforming the National Police to make a more professional, responsible and honest force.
"We hope that the President and other authority figures keep the promises they made to the people and adopt good governance and take strategic role in upholding justice in this country," Taufik said.
Activists and community figures then wrote personal messages they affixed to a tree called "the tree of hope".
There is growing public sentiment that states that the police force is no longer capable of investigating high-profile corruption scandals, as many police officials have been implicated in such scandals.
The most recent case that marred police credibility was a Tempo magazine's expose on the implausibly large bank accounts allegedly held by several high-ranking police officers, a controversial subject that was first broached in 2005.
Police officials were also alleged to have lied about the existence of evidence corroborating graft within the KPK, at first promising to provide taped wiretapped conversations between KPK enforcement deputy Ade Rahardja and alleged case broker Ary Muladi and then claiming no such tapes existed.
Both experts and the public have criticized Yudhoyono's silence or unresponsiveness on substantive issues, contending that the President has been content to respond to trivial matters, such as a controversial plan to remove the Constitution's presidential term limits.
Democratic Party legislator Ruhut Sitompul proposed an amendment that would allow Yudhoyono to run for a third presidential term, which some have speculated was done at the request of Yudhoyono or his advisers.
Speaking at his home in Cikeas, West Java, Yudhoyono said on Sunday that Democratic Party members should be patient and composed, despite "attacks" and public criticism directed against him as president and the party, which he founded, in the wake of Ruhut's controversial proposal.
"When emotions are pitted against one another, the outcome is conflict," Yudhoyono said as quoted by Antara. He said that his political cadres had to act rationally, as well as to use appropriate and controlled language, when dealing with certain issues.
Yudhoyono also urged his party members to support his administration until 2014, adding that they also had to help him boost the economic growth and succeed in the democratization process – both are part of the government's reform agenda.
Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum said that he hoped fellow party members would restrain from issuing unwarranted or "unfathomable" statements.
"It is necessary for us to apply political asceticism in life, meaning that we should base our political activities on religious values."
"If the Democratic Party could do such, the people would love us more, and we would be able to communicate [with each other] better," Anas said. (tsy)