Having a lavish lifestyle is not a crime, but if police officers indulge in such a way of life when the police force is under fire for its poor service, excessive use of force and alleged corruption, then public outcry will surely follow.
The National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna was recently criticized for his extravagant lifestyle.
Besides serving as a policeman, Nanan is also currently the chairman of the Indonesian Motor Association (IMI), the chairman of the Harley Davidson Club Indonesia (HDCI) and the chairman of the Indonesian Shooting and Hunting Sports Association (Perbakin).
"I can't understand how the deputy police chief can spare such time to manage his activities with a tight schedule as the second man in the police force," legislator Trimedya Panjaitan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said at a hearing with the National Police.
Busyro Muqoddas, a leader of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) once said such extravagant hobbies were hedonistic. "Is there a Harley-Davidson motorcycle costing less than Rp 20 million (US$2,240)?" Trimedya asked.
Nanan admitted he owns a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He, however, said he saw his hobbies more as a public service than hedonism. "I chair those organizations without receiving any payment, and all of those hobbies relate to my duties as a police officer," Nanan said.
In another case of the high life, a former provincial police chief made headlines after reportedly having an affair with movie star Sinta Bachir. Sinta claimed she had a romantic relationship with "a retired three-star general" who had graduated from the police academy in 1974, and was a former Jakarta Police chief.
The romantic affair took a dramatic turn after several gossip television shows reported that Sinta had received death threats via text messages and phone calls from the police general. The motive for the threats was reportedly jealousy.
A police expert from the University of Indonesia Bambang Widodo Umar said that extravagant lifestyles would arouse social jealousy. "Police should promote morality in society, if they have lavish lifestyles then it will generate a cynical response from society," he said.
Extravagant lifestyles, he added, would cause friction within police ranks and create a gap between senior officers and their subordinates, "The principle of obedience would be based on fear, not respect."
"Therefore their [senior officers'] subordinates will rarely follow instructions correctly." Bambang also said that the police should adopt a more humanitarian rather than a militaristic approach.
He further explained that this kind of behavior had become the culture within police institutions and it urgently needed to be reformed, "To reform the culture the police should emphasize values not personalities." (JP/rpt)