The nation's commitment to honest and transparent law enforcement has again been put to the test by recent allegations of human rights abuses committed by members of the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit while handling suspected terrorists in Central Sulawesi in 2007.

Such abuses have been widely publicized as the officers were apparently caught in the act, as revealed in video evidence submitted to the National Police headquarters by several Muslim leaders on Thursday.

The video, also available on YouTube, apparently depicts men in Densus 88 uniforms using intimidation and torture while questioning a man suspected to be a terrorist. In view of the allegations of police brutality and torture, the leaders of several Muslim groups, including Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), have gone further, asking that Densus 88 be dissolved.

While the police have declined to comment on the video's authenticity, they have responded quickly, deploying investigators from the internal affairs division to question officers from the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) special operations unit stationed in Central Sulawesi.

Densus 88 recruits heavily from the Mobile Brigade Corps, although outstanding officers from other police divisions are also recruited into the counterterrorism unit.

It is true that the alleged rights abuses did not happen recently and were a practice of the past. However, there are no guarantees that such abuses have not happened since, especially given hard evidence such as the leaked video.

The brutal acts and torture allegedly perpetrated by the officers in the search for terrorists, if found to be true, blatantly violate the universal legal principle of presumption of innocence. The alleged torture would also violate the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Indonesia ratified on Oct. 28, 1998.

The fact that the allegations occurred nine years after the ratification of the convention offers more proof that the nation – particularly the National Police, as one of several law enforcement institutions in the country – has fallen short of the binding international regulation.

More controversy arose after the National Police headquarters revealed that 18 Brimob officers in Poso, Central Sulawesi, have been questioned since December, although none have been detained or named suspects in torture allegations. "No such evidence had been found regarding members of both Brimob and Densus 88 being involved in torture," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said.

However, the chairman of the Indonesian Police Watch (IPW), Neta S. Pane, has accused the police of having acted arrogantly when dealing with terror cases and of making no effort to stop their members from acting without impunity. He said that last year, Muslim groups filed several reports of abuse against terrorist suspects who were implicated in a string of shootings targeted at the police in Surakarta (Solo), Central Java. "But the police did nothing to punish those officers responsible," he said.

National Police headquarters must act responsively and transparently in handling such reports regarding alleged rights abuses perpetrated by its officers. It must dare to admit wrongdoing and punish those responsible should the alleged abuse depicted in the 2007 incident prove to be true. Otherwise, the police will only worsen their already tainted image.