[Kabar-indonesia] 2 of 2: Tempo Cover Story: Crimebuster! - Poor Police Report Cards

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-2 of 2-

Tempo Cover Story:

- Poor Police Report Cards
- Hunting the 'Chicken Father'
- Fee Enterprise: Illegal Fees

Tempo Magazine
No. 52/VI/August 29 - Sept 04, 2006

Cover Story

Poor Police Report Cards

A poor passing grade in the national final exam does
not necessarily mean the end of everything. Joining
the National Police Force is easier.

POLICE General Sutanto seems to have taken up arms
against misconduct and misbehavior within the police
force. Since his appointment as National Police Chief
last year, he has promised to eradicate illegal
logging, gambling, narcotics and terrorist networks.
The public, of course, was delighted, having waited so
long for cronyism and corruption in the police force
to be purged. But can such a promise be carried out,
or is it just idle talk?

First, let us dissect the police as a body. Out of
around 300,000 brown-clothed personnel, the largest
component is the group of officers that make up almost
30 percent of the police's total membership. Then the
numbers inflate again at the level of middle-ranking
officers. They are competing with each other to be
promoted to senior-ranking officers, positions that
are currently held by only 147 people.

It is this imbalance in the composition of officers
that is creating unhealthy competition. Additionally,
within the ranks of those officers, there still exists
a system of promotions that is considered by some to
be far from ideal. According to retired Sr. Comr. Dr.
Bambang Widodo Umar, the method used in the selection
of police officers for permanent commissions in the
force is still very unstructured. "It's like plucking
anyone off the street to fill an important vacancy,"
he said in a discussion on the police's performance at
the Tempo offices on Thursday last week.

Bambang sees this weakness as a consequence of no
merit system within the police force. Every police
officer should have a complete school report card from
the time they join the force up to the present moment.
As a consequence, when a person is being considered
for a particular post, they are only assessed over an
extremely short period of time. "So, the ups and downs
or mistakes that have been made by a person can be
forgotten just like that," said the University of
Indonesia post-graduate instructor.

Worse still is the quality of individual officers.
According to Bambang, whose 12-year career in the
police has been taken up with teaching, the three most
important aspects in the assessment of ongoing police
education are psychological, physical, and finally
intelligence factors. "It seems intelligence is not an
important factor in becoming a police officer,"
quipped Bambang.

How then can the institution produce police officers
capable of communicating with the public when the
National Police Headquarters sets the passing grade to
apply as a police officer at only 5.5 in the state
high school's national final examination. Some
applicants even find this requirement difficult to
meet, especially those outside of Java.

A case in point is the standard grade used by the
Southeast Sulawesi Regional Police last year. At the
time, regional police intended to recruit 300
candidate non-commissioned officers. It turned out
that by the closing day for applications only 30
people had registered. Were young people just not
interested in becoming police officers? They were very
interested. Unfortunately, their passing grades were
inadequate so the limit was reduced to 4.5. But even
then there were not enough applicants. "In the end, we
reduced it again to a grade of 3.5," said the head of
the Southeast Sulawesi Regional Police Personnel
Bureau, Sr. Comr. Didie S., at the time. Only then did
the number of registered applicants rise to 1,500.

This super-minimum grade was also used by the West
Kalimantan Regional Police last year. According to
West Kalimantan Regional Police Chief, Brig. Gen.
Nanan Sukarna, cutting the minimum grade was done in
order to give an opportunity to local people to become
police officers. There was discrimination in the
grades used for local people and outsiders who still
had to meet the National Police HQ minimum grade of
5.5. "If there had been no differentiation, [the
applications] would only have been filled by graduates
from Java," said Nanan.

Of course, reducing the minimum grade did not make the
police happy. Because of this, in order to maintain
the quality of officers, the regional police in Java
continue to use the average minimum and a 5.5 grade.
According to the head of the East Java Regional Police
Publications Office, Adj. Sr. Comr. Hartoyo, this
minimum grade is only one precondition in addition to
a number of other selection criteria.

According to Hartoyo, as of last year the regional
police have been applying a number of even tighter
rules such as having a selection committee investigate
the psychological and ideological record of
non-commissioned candidate officers from the level of
the village or political district administered by a
village chief that the applicant originated from up to
the local sectoral police office. Thereafter the
selection covers an administrative examination,
psychological tests, academic prestige and health. "If
there is one item that does not meet the requirements,
then [they] fail," said Hartoyo.

The regional police also involve parties outside the
force to participate in the selection process, thereby
narrowing the possibility of bribery taking place. One
of these is a tertiary education institution which was
asked to write a draft selection test in cooperation
with the East Java Regional Police. "If there is
someone that knows the applicant has bribed an
official, they can recommend the immediate
cancellation of their application," said Hartoyo.

The head of the East Java Regional Police Personnel
Bureau, Sr. Comr. Syafaruddin, says that they will not
tolerate police officers who assist candidate officers
by passing the tests. He admits to having dismissed
two police officers because they asked for money from
the family of a candidate.

Education psychologist Seto Mulyadi believes that the
minimum grade for candidate police officers is too
low. "Under a proper final level national evaluation
assessment system, the minimum that should be accepted
is a grade of 6," he said. Because, a student with an
average grade of 3.5, aside from having difficulties
understanding abstract orders, would also be extremely
limited in their capacity to understand numbers.

Police have not remained silent in the face of such
criticisms. Some have set up local schools for a
number of ranks; they have established schools and
courses to improve the quality of the police's human
resources. According to Bambang however, education
graduates in the police force are mostly hired by
personnel to fulfill the requirements to win
promotions. "Most are chasing diplomas, not
knowledge," said Bambang.

Given this type of weakness, is there reason for us to
hope that the Police Chief's promise will become a
reality?

Agung Rulianto, Hary Daya, Kukuh S. Wibowo (Surabaya) 

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Tempo Magazine
No. 52/VI/August 29 - Sept 04, 2006

Law

Hunting the 'Chicken Father'

Police uncover a network trafficking Indonesian women
in Malaysia.

SITTING on a bamboo bed, 48-year-old Eneng gazed
absentmindedly at the bunches of rice paddy just 5
meters from her shack in Sugri hamlet, Surya Bahari
village, Pakuaji subdistrict, Tangerang regency,
Banten.

With a face devoid of enthusiasm, she told Tempo last
Wednesday, "I'm thinking of my daughters." The mother
of five was momentarily silent, her lips trembling and
tears welling in her eyes.

Sobbing, she related the story of her two daughters,
Santi, 24, and Yanti, 14 (not their real names) who
migrated on June 20. It began when Santi became
acquainted with a young man at a wedding party in
Sugri.

Pakuaji, a young man from the Keroncong village, told
Santi about an easy, high-paying job. The young man
mentioned Jarkasih, 32, Santi's neighbor, as somebody
who could find her a job. Returning home, Santi told
her younger sister Yanti about the news.

She also told her two cousins—Lina, 17, and Rosi,
14—who were also looking for employment. Lina's
father, Udin Wahab, a retired ship crew member, was
jobless and suffered from rheumatism. The burden of
the family was now shouldered by Lina's mother Marni
who earned a living as a roving vegetable vendor.

Rosi's parents, farmers Samsu and Onah who live near
Eneng, did not mind their daughter taking up a job.
Jarkasih was also their neighbor after all. "She said
she would work in Tangerang," said Eneng. In the end,
Lina and Rosi did not inform their parents. Jarkasih
collected the girls, who were educated only to
elementary-school level, on the morning of June 20.
There has been no word from them since.

Enang's husband Jafar, 50, was extremely anxious, as
were Udin and Samsu. They notified Maman, the head of
the Sugri neighborhood association (RT) of the matter
on July 5. The same day Maman took them to the Pakuaji
Police station.

Pakuaji head of detectives Inspector Agus Riyana
passed the report on to the Jakarta Police office on
Sunday, July 9. Based on the information from one of
Jarkasih's friends, it was discovered that the four
girls were put up in a house at Cijantung, East
Jakarta.

A week after reporting to the police, Yahya, the elder
brother of Santi and Yanti, met with Jarkasih at
Cijantung. "He admitted he took my sisters to Malaysia
early in July," said Yahya. Based on this report,
police arrested Jarkasih on July 28.

Jarkasih told police of Trianto, 36, an East Jakarta
resident, who arranged for the victims' departure for
Pontianak. Jarkasih was paid Rp1 million per woman by
Trianto. In West Kalimantan, the victims were
accommodated at the house of Abdul Azis, 30, in the
Santos hamlet, Entikong, Sanggau, for four days.

Abdul Azis was seized by police at the Pulogadung bus
terminal on August 1. He said he made arrangements for
the victims' passports and documents. Police learned
from Azis the victims were sent over to Tebedu,
Sarawak, Malaysia, where they were met by an employee
of Able Maids Training Center Sdn. Bhd, a company
providing domestic employees.

The suspect Trianto was caught at the Tebedu-Entikong
border on Saturday, August 5 and taken to Jakarta
Police Headquarters the following day. He claimed the
job of looking for women was a direct order from his
boss. The victims were to become prostitutes in
Malaysia.

As of last weekend, the Able boss had not yet been
apprehended. An Able employee who refused to be
identified said his boss continued to work as usual.
To capture the Able boss, the regional police
requested the National Police HQ's assistance, "for
coordination with Interpol and the Malaysian Police,"
said Sr. Comr. Ahmad Rivai, head of the juvenile and
women's unit of the Jakarta Police.

According to the Indonesian embassy's senior liaison
officer in Kuala Lumpur, Sr. (Police) Comr. Setyo
Wasisto, police in Malaysia were very cooperative. "We
have handled a couple of cases together," he said. "So
far, the Malaysian authorities have been proactive in
combating the women trafficking syndicate."

Nevertheless it has not been easy to catch the
"chicken father"—the Malaysian term for pimp—in
Malaysia. "The syndicates operate in an organized and
sly manner," said Setyo Wasisto to Tempo at the
Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur last week.

In the two-story accommodation quarters at the
embassy, Tempo saw three women who had been victimized
by the "chicken father." Although they claimed not to
be from Tangerang, their story was similar to that of
the other girls who had fallen into the trap. 

One of them, Fitri (not her real name), was 13. She
left her hamlet of Sempurna, Sambas, West Kalimantan,
two months ago, lured by the offer of a restaurant job
in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, Malaysia.

Upon arrival in Malaysia, she was put up at Tebedu,
and met with 29 other women. From Kuching, Fitri was
flown to Kuala Lumpur where she was received by a
Chinese boss who ordered her to serve the "guests," in
order "to cover the travel expenses to Malaysia."

Most nights, Fitri would be taken to a place of
entertainment in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor and to a
gambling den at Genting Highland, the state of Pahang.
"I'm very exhausted," she said. She escaped and was
accommodated at the Indonesian embassy. She would be
taken home within a week.

In Tangerang, Sugri RT chief Maman got a phone call
from Malaysia a fortnight ago. He recognized the
caller's voice. "My niece," he said. As quoted by
Maman, she told him, "I've got to serve male guests at
the entertainment place in Malaysia. I ran away and
reported myself to the police, but the cops in
Malaysia wanted to rape me."

Nurlis E. Meuko, Ibnu Rusydi (Jakarta), Joniansyah
(Tangerang) and T.H. Salengke (Kuala Lumpur)

Controlin Kuching

Crossing over two countries, the mafia trafficking in
Indonesian children starts in Tangerang and ends in
Kuala Lumpur as well as the Genting Island gambling
den, Malaysia. Kuching is the control center.

1. Sugri Hamlet, Suryabahari Village, Pakuaji
Subdistrict, Tangerang Regency
Jarkasih was responsible for taking five of the 26
victims of the children-trafficking mafia. The
victims' parents reported the matter to the Pakuaji
Police station on July 15. Jarkasih, a hamlet
resident, was arrested on July 28.

2. Jakarta
On June 20, 2006, the victims were brought to Jakarta
and held at Trianto's house. Police arrested Trianto
and Jarkasih on July 28.

3. Pontianak, West Kalimantan
The victims were flown to Pontianak and accommodated
at a bus terminal. Taken over to Entikong, Sarawak,
Malaysia.

4. Entikong, North Kalimantan, Malaysia
Victims' immigration documents were made. Abdul Azis,
a resident of Santos village, Entikon, split the
victims into two groups: to Tebedu in Sarawak and to
Kuching. Abdul Azis was arrested by Indonesian Police
on August 11 in Jakarta.

5A. Tebedu, Sarawak, Malaysia
Victims were accommodated and trained at Able Maids
Training Center Sdn. Bhd.

5B. Kuching Control Center
Victims were accommodated and trained at Able Maids
Training Center Sdn. Bhd. It was also from the office
in Kuching that victims were distributed.

6A. Kuala Lumpur
Some of the victims who managed to get away took
refuge at the Indonesian embassy.

6B. Genting Island
One of the gambling centers in Malaysia.

Nurlis E. Meuko
Source: Tempo investigation and Jakarta METRO Police

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Tempo Magazine
No. 52/VI/August 29 - Sept 04, 2006

Law

Fee Enterprise

The Supreme Audit Agency is calling for an inspection
of court case fees. The Supreme Court chooses to have
public auditors do it.

THE three copies of the regulation on court fees in
the Supreme Court (MA) seem clear. However for Anwar
Nasution, Chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK),
the decree authorized by Supreme Court Chief Justice
Bagir Manan is unconstitutional. "The Supreme Court is
the highest judicial body in Indonesia, but they don't
seem to understand the 1945 Constitution," he said,
speaking to Tempo last Friday.

Anwar was referring to the Supreme Court regulations
on court case fees, state administration fees in the
judicial review stage, Supreme Court regulations on
fee adjustment in the appeal stage, and Supreme Court
regulations on commerce court cases in appeal and
judicial review stages.

According to Anwar, those three regulations are only
based on the internal regulations within the MA and
lower judicial institutions, such as the Regulations
on Judicial Authority, Supreme Court Regulations,
Civil Court Regulations, State Administration Court
Regulations, and Religious Court Regulations.

These regulations do not stipulate collecting fees
from the public. In fact there is a bylaw which states
that government institutions cannot charge money from
the public without a lawful regulation. Anwar
mentioned Chapter 23a of the 1945 Constitution which
states that fees and taxes have to be prearranged by
regulation.

Furthermore, Anwar said the MA should be aware of
Chapter 23e of the 1945 Constitution. This chapter
states that in order to examine the management and
reliability of state finances, the government must
appoint an independent financial investigation board.
"That means that the BPK is the only body which has
the right and the authority to investigate the state's
financial affairs," he said.

Therefore, Anwar insisted that his agency will audit
the MA and lower judicial institutions. "Those
institutions are illegally charging fees from the
public," he declared. Supreme Court justices can face
a penalty of one year and six months in jail. "This
penalty is based on state finance regulations," he
added.

* * *

The tension between the BPK and the MA surfaced two
weeks ago. It began when Anwar voiced his
disappointment over the MA resisting inspection. The
BPK observed that there are case fees that cannot be
located. Legally the BPK has the authority to
scrutinize every amount of public money that the court
receives.

The MA remains firm in its refusal to allow the BPK to
audit its records. According to Supreme Court Civil
Cases Department Deputy Chairman, Harifin A. Tumpa,
the BPK only has the authority to inspect government
finances, while case fees are excluded from the
routine government finances. According to him, they
need to charge a fee so they do not have to burden the
government. "Moreover, the plaintiff can check it
himself," he told Tempo last Wednesday. In other words
the plaintiff who pays the fees can look over the
detailed account of fees included on the last page of
the verdict documents.

Harifin admitted that his department only performed an
internal inspection to manage the money. Consequently,
the MA will have a public auditor to make a proper
inspection. "Yes, we have been unaware of this
matter," he acknowledged.

The BPK has been observing the case fee issue in the
MA for some time. In his meetings with Supreme Court
Chief Justice Bagir Manan, Anwar often raised the
topic asking to clarify the legal basis for collecting
fees from the public. "It must be in accordance with
government regulations," he said.

The MA charges different rates for the different
stages of a case process. These rates are not
considered cheap. The rate for an appeal, for example,
is Rp500,000 and for a judicial review is Rp2.5
million. In any given month, if there are 100 new
cases that need a judicial review, the MA can earn
Rp250 million.

According to the MA's statistics, up until June 2006,
there were 10,000 appeals and 1,300 judicial reviews,
making the total amount of money that the Supreme
Court has received over the years a significant
amount.

Anwar had reported this matter to the House of
Representatives (DPR). Last September he submitted the
results of the BPK's investigation of the MA and the
other lower judicial departments. He enclosed his
findings on the illegal case fees in his report. "I
haven't received a response in this matter," he said,
hoping the DPR will legislate the regulation.

The DPR seems to be putting little attention on this
matter. When Tempo contacted the DPR Law Committee
Chairman, Trimedya Panjaitan, last Friday, he said the
Committee had not considered passing legislation on
the matter. "We will bring into question the case fees
during the general meeting of the Law Committee, the
Finance Department and the Supreme Court," he said.

Maria Hasugian, Ramidi, Poernomo Gontha Ridho 

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Tempo Magazine
No. 52/VI/August 29 - Sept 04, 2006

Law

Illegal Fees

'Folder Money'

A district court has the authority to determine the
fees for civil suits. However, people may have to pay
up to five times the official prices.

FILING a civil suit can cost a fortune. People are
obliged to pay illegal charges starting from the
district court level all the way up to the Supreme
Court. The illegal levies are much higher than the
official prices and sometimes no receipt is given.

David Tobing, a lawyer from South Jakarta, goes in and
out of district courts almost every week. If he is not
attending a trial, he is filing new cases. For the
latter, he needs to prepare extra money. "A minimum of
Rp750,000 for filing a case for the first time," said
the 35-year-old lawyer to Tempo, last Thursday.

David gives the money to the case filing division.
Here he receives a receipt for Rp500,000. This is the
official rate determined by the court; the remaining
costs are the unofficial charges. David does not know
where the money goes. "They say it is for the
authorization letter registration," he said.

When the case approaches trial, he prepares more money
for additional expenses. For example, the official
rate for summoning a defendant to trial is Rp50,000.
But he can be charged double for the reason that the
person's house is very far. If he asks for a
foreclosure—a standard procedure in a civil suit
case—he is charged more than the official price of
Rp500,000. "You have to pay above the official rate,"
said David.

Of all the various stages of trial, the execution
phase requires the highest payment. The district court
sets the fee for this complicated stage at around
Rp3-5 million. But in practice the charges are double
or triple the official fee. The justification for this
is that this stage involves many divisions—from the
regional government to the police and others.

Winning the case does not mean an end to the spending.
The fee to acquire a copy of the verdict is Rp500,000.
Its official price is Rp100,000. The total amount that
David has to spend for one trial at the lower level is
often five times the official rate. 

Chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Association
(PBHI) Jhonson Panjaitan, agreed with David's account.
"The popular term is 'Folder Money'," he said.
According to Jhonson, the expression comes from the
price of the file folder used in filing the case which
is Rp50,000 each. "Whereas the actual price for it is
only a few thousand," said Jhonson. He also has to pay
a minimum of Rp200,000 to obtain the verdict copy. "No
money, no copy," he said.

South Jakarta District Court head, Andi Samsan Nganro,
admitted that the plaintiff in a civil suit is charged
certain fees. The amounts, according to him, are
determined by each district court. "It depends on the
local terms," he said. The prices for filing cases in
South Jakarta, for instance, were last fixed in 2004
when the court was headed by Soedarto. The fees,
according to him, are used to summon the defendants to
trial. "Because the civil suit is a private matter,
the state does not pay for it," he said.

The practice of charging 'folder money' also occurs in
the Medan District Court. "This has been going on for
a long time here," said Hadiningtyas, a lawyer from
the Medan Legal Aid Institution. According to
Hadiningtyas the amount of money depends on the size
of the case.

Medan District Court spokesperson, Jarasmen Purba,
admitted there were inconsistencies in the case fees
but denied the existence of illegal charges. "We have
the regulations," he claimed. According to him the
fees are for calling in the defendant and for
administration. "These charges are for down payments,"
he added.

All the money from the plaintiff, explained Jarasmen,
is deposited in the court. "It is not deposited in the
bank because the court is not allowed to gain interest
from it," he said. When the case is over and there is
some money left, it is given back to the plaintiff.
"This regulation works in all district courts."

An example of the court returning the down payment is
very rare. On the other hand, people who seek justice
have to spend extra money if they want to see their
case processed smoothly. "Therefore, now the district
court (pengadilan negeri) should rather be called
horrible court (pengadilan ngeri)," said David.

Poernomo Gontha Ridho, Ramidi, Hambali Batubara
(Medan) 

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