LAKSAMANA.Net, May 3, 2004 01:40 PM
Bachtiar's Authority Under Fire
Laksamana.Net - National Police chief Gen. Dai Bachtiar has been embarrassed by
the acts of violence perpetrated against student demonstrators in Makassar.
It is not the first time that he has found his control over his forces lacking.
Maluku Police commander Bambang Sutrisno is also under attack because of his
toleration of a march by the separatist Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM) and the
subsequent clash with an angry pro-Indonesian mob.
Events in Makassar Saturday (1/5/04) marked not a failure in strategy but a complete
breach of discipline as police lashed out at students.
The bloody incident began at 1 pm when 30 students from Hasanuddin University and
Islamic Muhammadiyah University staged a demonstration in front of the regional
General Election Commission (KPUD), rejecting the former military figures taking part
as presidential candidates.
The demonstration was colored by the burning of military clothes and attributes.
Police moved to break up the demonstration, and the students fled for refuge to the
Indonesia Muslim University (UMI) campus. Before entering the campus, they dragged
along with them a police officer who was directing traffic outside.
The pursuing police breached regulations by entering the campus in hot pursuit, and
made matters worse by lashing out at the students with rifle butts and boots. A
number of firearms were discharged. The action was caught by press photographers
and an SCTV news team.
National Police spokesman Police Insp. Gen Paiman said hours after the bloody
incident that the officers who stormed the campus were under the direct command of
Makassar Police Chief Sr. Comr. Jose Rizal, who was being fired as a result of the
action of his men.
Paiman added that the position of South Sulawesi Police Chief Insp. Gen. Jusuf
Manggabarani was under evaluation.
The incident cast into doubt National Police chief Bachtiar's authority over the force.
He had earlier come under fire for the behavior of his men in March last year, when
they had stood by and watched hoodlums assault members of staff of Tempo
magazine.
The hoodlums were protesting at an article in the weekly alleging that Tomy Winata
had stood to gain from a fire that had destroyed the Tanah Abang textile market. The
report was based on comments by an Indonesian architect that Winata had made a
proposal for a Rp53 billion ($5.9 million) development project on the land.
The article said the proposal raised suspicion that the market had been intentionally
burned down. Winata denied any involvement in the fire, saying his proposal had been
submitted to the Jakarta city authorities a full three months before the fire.
As well as standing by while Winata's supporters intimidated staff at the Tempo office,
police also turned a blind eye when the contenders were taken to Jakarta Police
headquarters, where hoodlum leaders continued their tirade against Tempo staffers,
assaulting chief editor Bambang Harimurti and another journalist.
Bachtiar and Jakarta Police Chief Makbul Padmanegara were summoned by the
House Commission I to clarify the incident.
Bachtiar admitted that the violence was his responsibility, but said he had already
reprimanded the Jakarta Police Chief over the behavior of his men.
The incident demonstrated that Bachtiar's control over his forces was already weak.
The new outbreak of violence in Ambon also gives rise to suspicion that Maluku
Police Chief Bambag Sutrisno was playing his own game in allowing the separatist
demonstration to proceed.
Ambon and Maluku have been an arena for a ‘proxy war' between rival generals and
political elites in Jakarta since the Habibie presidency in 1999. Police and military
units were seen to take sides in the violence.
House Commission I on defense and security has called for the sacking of the Maluku
Police Chief over his breach of reason in the new outbreak in Ambon.
Firing the Maluku Police Chief would be only a first step if the problems in the police
are to be rooted out. It needs to be established whether the incident was an act of
incompetence or part of a grand scheme to destabilize Maluku once more.
Dai Bachtiar was appointed National Police Chief to replace S. Bimantoro shortly after
Megawati Sukarnoputri took over the presidency from Abdurrahman Wahid in June
2001.
Bimantoro, who was close to military circles, did not consider Bachtiar as his protégé
or his favored successor. He had recommended that then Jakarta Police Chief Sofyan
Yakub should replace him.
Bimantoro and Yakub were both close to former Armed Forces Commander Wiranto
and Army Chief of Staff Endriartono Sutarto.
Megawati apparently did not want to take a risk by involving herself in the polarization
in the military and the police that she inherited from Wahid.
She appointed Bachtiar, seen as being free from the internal conflict within the Police,
and a much younger officer, from the class of 1972 at the National Police Academy.
Bachtiar's appointment represented an acceleration of the separation of the Police
from the Armed Forces that Wahid had begun.
The lack of coordination among his subordinates suggests that many of the regional
commanders may still prefer to follow the tune of their connections within the military,
some of whom appear determined to undermine the civilian authority.
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